Lawyer's character

"Let me express my opinion first, and try to stir things up." Yun Qiao swallowed the orange in his mouth, took out a wet tissue and wiped his hands: "I think that the act of assisting suicide cannot be equated with the act of intentional homicide. There is no express provision in the "Criminal Law" Under the circumstances, it is open to question whether the act of assisting suicide constitutes intentional homicide.

Especially in a situation like this case, the defendant did not engage in instigation or mental coercion. The defendant only acted to help the victim when he could not bear the pain and actively asked to help him buy pesticides. Moreover, the victim drank the pesticide by himself, and the defendant did not force him. The victim had the right to choose to continue living or die.

This case reminds me of the ‘euthanasia’ debate a few years ago. Don’t ordinary people even have the right to choose death? Do you have to stand up and contribute to the hospital?

I have read online reports about this case. To be honest, I was in tears after reading it. I think the defendant Rong Yang is a filial son. If it were me, I wouldn't choose to be indifferent, and I would probably do the same.

I believe that the purpose of the law is to maintain order, but it would be biased to impose excessive demands on order without considering the particularity of this case.

This is my true inner thought, although it may be more emotional than rational, but... I won’t vomit or feel unhappy about it. "

The veteran lawyers in the team all know what kind of character Yun Qiao is. Almost every time she analyzes the case, she will choose to speak first to stir up the atmosphere.

But this time, everyone heard a different voice. This was a speech from the heart by a female lawyer who was more emotional than rational. She did not suppress her emotional side excessively, but released her true self and no longer relied on the law dryly. narrative.

Fang Yi was startled. He also felt that Rong Yang was a filial son, and his behavior was different from ordinary criminal behavior, but reason told him that the choice of death might not really be in the hands of ordinary people, such as euthanasia.

Everyone in the office was silent.

"Lao Meng, what do you think?" Half a minute later, Fang Yi looked at Meng Guangda sitting on the sofa.

"Well, this case sponsored by Lawyer Du has been widely circulated on the Internet, and it has attracted a lot of public attention. I saw the report of this case on the Internet last week, and I also discussed this case when I was chatting with Yu Wendong.

Theoretically speaking, assisted suicide refers to the behavior of someone else who has a suicidal intention and the perpetrator gives him or her spiritual encouragement to confirm his suicidal intention, or provides material help to make him realize his suicidal intention.

From the above conceptual analysis, assisted suicide is different from direct killing.

If the defendant directly kills someone, even if he does it at the request of others, the theoretical and practical circles generally believe that it should not be regarded as assisted suicide and constitute intentional homicide.

However, there is considerable controversy in both theoretical and practical circles as to whether an act of merely providing help but not directly committing a murder should be deemed intentional homicide. "Meng Guangda said.

"Brother Da, what is your final opinion? Don't be confused and give me your final opinion. I still have to take notes." Yun Qiao urged, suppressing a smile in a serious manner.

She may feel that the atmosphere in the office just now was too depressing and needs to liven up the atmosphere.

There were no more than three people in the entire team who dared to talk to Da Ge so directly, including Yun Qiao, and the remaining two people were Boss Fang and Zhou Ying.

In fact, it's not that Meng Guangda is so majestic and he doesn't have human hair on his body, but because he is relatively older in the team and everyone respects him, especially since he has become famous recently and is so serious in his daily life that everyone thinks he should Cooperate with his personality and establish his image as an expert to the outside world.

To be honest, Meng Guangda didn't like this feeling. It seemed that the distance between him and everyone was getting farther and farther, and he felt like he was feeling cold at high places. On the contrary, Yun Qiao's nonchalant attitude and sometimes making fun of him made him feel very close to her.

After listening to Yun Qiao's words, Meng Guangda habitually smoothed the sparse hair on his head and continued: "My opinion is that the act of assisting suicide constitutes the crime of intentional homicide. The reason is: there is a causal relationship between the act of assisting suicide and the result of death. It violated the deceased’s right to life.”

"Well, I agree with Da Ge. In principle, the act of assisting suicide should also constitute the crime of intentional homicide. My reason is that the act of assisting suicide meets the characteristics of indirect intentional homicide.

"Sui Xia, what do you think?" Fang Yi clicked Sui Xia's name and wanted to hear her opinion.

Everyone knows that she has worked in the Procuratorate for a period of time, and her way of thinking is inertia. When discussing the case, everyone basically pretends to be her role as a prosecutor and listens to her opinions to improve their own defense opinions.

"I think in this case, the defendant Rong Yang knew that the pesticide was highly toxic, but still handed the blended pesticide to his mother, Lu Yanlan. Rong Yang subjectively had a laissez-faire attitude towards Lu Yanlan's death, which meets the subjective conditions for intentional homicide. At the same time, Rongyang also objectively committed the act of illegally depriving others of their lives, which meets the objective conditions for the crime of intentional homicide." Sui Xia stopped the pen in his hand and spoke.

Although she is usually very easy-going, she is very capable when discussing the case and will not be sloppy in expressing her opinions, which is completely opposite to Meng Guangda's erudite reference.

Later, Song Hui and others also expressed their opinions.

"Lawyer Du and I have analyzed this case before, and our opinions are unanimous. The defendant's behavior constitutes intentional homicide. Lawyer Du, please tell everyone the reason." Fang Yi saw that everyone had expressed their opinions, Look at Du Yong.

"Okay, I am the lead lawyer. I have been in contact with the case for longer and have more information. We believe that the defendant committed intentional homicide for the following reasons:

First, Rongyang committed an act of illegally depriving others of their lives.

Rong Yang has the obligation to support his mother, Lu Yanlan. Lv Yanlan was suffering from illness, and when she asked her for help to buy pesticides for the last time to commit suicide, Rong Yang not only did not dissuade her, but instead bought the pesticides for her, and after blending, he unscrewed the cap of the bottle and handed the pesticides to her mother, Lv Yanlan, providing the necessary means for Lv Yanlan to commit suicide. condition.

After Lu Yanlan took the pesticide, Rong Yang did not actively carry out rescue, but watched Lu Yanlan die of poisoning. Although Rongyang did not commit the act of injecting drugs, from the nature of his behavior, his behavior was an act of illegally depriving others of their lives.

In addition, whether Rongyang carried out the act of forcibly feeding drugs is an important basis for us to judge his criminal motive and whether he assisted suicide or directly committed murder.

Regarding this issue, in terms of direct evidence, there is only the defendant's confession, while in terms of indirect evidence, on-site inspection records, forensic autopsy certificates, etc. all confirm that the victim did not resist or struggle fiercely before death.

Therefore, based on the evidence in this case, we believe that Rongyang did not forcefully feed him drugs. This is beneficial to the defendant.

Second, there is a causal relationship in the criminal law sense between Rong Yang’s behavior and the death of his mother, Lu Yanlan.

Previously, Lu Yanlan had the idea of ​​​​suicide due to the torture of her illness, but she was unable to commit suicide on her own because she was bedridden.

At Lu Yanlan's request, Rong Yang still provided pesticides to Lu Yanlan despite knowing that the pesticides were highly toxic. Although he only handed the pesticide to Lu Yanlan, he knew that Lu Yanlan would die after receiving the pesticide and taking it. Therefore, there is a causal relationship in the criminal law sense between Rongyang's act of providing pesticides and Lu Yanlan's death.

Third, Rongyang’s behavior is criminally illegal, and there is no illegal reason to stop it.

Assisted suicide behavior involves the issue of victim commitment in criminal law theory. The victim's commitment refers to the implementation of actions that harm the rights and interests of the right holder with the permission of the right holder.

The Roman jurist Ulpian once said, "No harm is done to the person who intends it." That is to say, when the perpetrator commits an act of infringement, if the act and its consequences are exactly what the victim intended. , then there will be no problem of infringement on the victim. This shows that in the traditional concept, the victim's commitment has a certain impact on the determination of illegality.

In fact, I myself sympathize with the defendant in this case.

However, in the contemporary criminal theory system, there are certain restrictions on the victim's promise as a ground for illegality.

Generally speaking, in addition to national interests and social public interests, even private rights that purely belong to individual citizens are not completely free to be disposed of by the rights holders. For example, the right to life cannot be freely disposed of. Killing someone with the victim's consent still constitutes intentional homicide.

Our current Criminal Law does not specifically provide for the issue of victim commitment. In judicial practice, for intentional homicides involving the victim's commitment, in principle, the victim's commitment is not used as a deterrent to the crime of homicide, but it can be used as a reason to reduce criminal liability.

To sum up, in this case, although the defendant Rongyang’s act of assisting suicide was carried out at the request of his mother, Lu Yanlan, the criminal illegality of his act cannot be ruled out because the right to life he infringed exceeded the scope of the punishment promised by the victim. , still constitutes intentional homicide. "Du Yong elaborated on his point of view.

"Actually, what I'm more concerned about is how to sentence the defendant Rong Yang if he commits intentional homicide.

To be honest, I sympathize with the defendant in my heart. "Song Hui saw that Du Yong had finished expressing his opinions and took over the conversation.

"This is the issue we are going to discuss next." Du Yong said with a serious face: "Since I provide defense for the defendant, it is my duty to persuade the court to reduce the defendant's punishment when the crime is confirmed. It’s also the focus of my work.”

Song Hui understood Du Yong's feelings very well. He knew clearly that the defendant was a filial son, but was unable to clear his name. He could only settle for the next best thing and choose the lesser crime defense. This is the most realistic and currently the most desirable defense plan.

"Article 232 of the Criminal Law stipulates that those who commit intentional homicide shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years. However, there is currently no clear judicial interpretation of what constitutes a "minor circumstance."

Judging from my experience, in judicial practice, the judicial authorities generally consider acts such as killing out of anger, killing with excessive self-defense, assisted suicide, and drowning of a baby because the biological mother is unable to raise her own baby as 'less serious' crimes of intentional homicide. .

Therefore, I suggest that Attorney Du start from this aspect. Coupled with the large number of positive comments on this case on the Internet, the hope of success is relatively high. "Song Hui suggested.

The team of lawyers offered their advice and didn’t leave until after get off work.

…

On this afternoon, Fang Yi was busy with his head down. There was a knock on the door, and a round-faced male lawyer came in. The lawyer Fang Yi looked familiar and knew that he was a lawyer from the legal aid team, but he did not know his name.

"Hello, Lawyer Fang. I am a lawyer from the legal aid team, Zhou Yuanzhong." The round-faced male lawyer introduced himself after entering the door.

"Hello, Lawyer Zhou, do you have anything to do with me?" Fang Yi looked at him curiously.

"Our legal aid team is recruiting a paralegal, and I would like to recommend someone for this position. I went to see Director Wan just now, but Director Wan asked me to come to you." Zhou Yuanzhong looked sincere and waited eagerly for the answer. .

"Oh? Please give me your resume." Fang Yi saw an A4 paper in his hand, which should be a resume.

Zhou Yuanzhong hurriedly handed over his resume: "Lawyer Fang, this person has low academic qualifications and has some criminal records in the past, but I still hope you can give him a chance."

"Well, let me take a look first." Fang Yi did not agree to him or refuse, but just looked at him with a smile.

Zhou Yuanzhong, who was not familiar with Fang Yi, expressed his gratitude and left the office.

The paralegals recruited by the legal aid team are, to put it bluntly, just handymen. They do not have much technical content. Many of the jobs are skilled trades and the wages are not high. This kind of work is not favored by law graduates. This matter was mentioned once before by Wan Kefa at the partners' meeting.

Fang Yi didn't understand why Lawyer Zhou recommended a person with a criminal record. In addition, he couldn't figure out why Wan Kefa, just a small paralegal, would send Zhou Yuanzhong to him. Couldn't the human resources department handle it?

Fang Yi habitually picked up his resume and took a look at it. The name of the person on the resume was Ma Sida. He was twenty-three years old. He started living on the streets after graduating from junior high school. He was detained administratively for ten days for fighting and was later dealt with by the judicial authorities for fighting. , was sentenced to one and a half years, and was only released for half a year.

Judging from his resume, Masida is a typical gangster. Fang Yi had no good impression of this kind of person, so he threw his resume aside and continued working.

More than an hour later, Fang Yi finished handling the work at hand. He saw the resume again and suddenly realized a problem. Why didn't Wan Kefa directly reject this kind of thing and leave it to him?

Although Fang Yi has been promoted to deputy director of the law firm and has taken over part of the management work, Wan Kefa has always been responsible for the personnel work. Why did it suddenly fall on him?

Fang Yi looked at the resume in his hand and couldn't really see anything special. If there was something special, it might be that the person who was recommended was special. This was the worst resume he had ever seen since he entered the industry. Although he had seen There are not many resumes submitted, only those of team lawyers and trainee lawyers.

When nothing happened, Fang Yi picked up his cell phone and called Wang Deyou and asked him to come to the office for tea. (End of chapter)