1. Basic case
The young and handsome Korean guy Park Junhao and the lively and lovely Thai girl Gan Ya met and fell in love because they attended a university in Beijing, China. Time flies, Park Junhao returns to Seoul to study in his third year of university, while Gan Ya continues to study in Shanghai. Although they are two places apart, the two continue to communicate through letters or emails, and their relationship is stable.
During the holiday, Park Junhao went to Shanghai from South Korea to visit his girlfriend. The two lived and traveled together. In a blink of an eye, a month's vacation was over. Park Junhao is about to return to Han, and the two are hard to part with and their love is endless. By chance, Park Junhao found that Gan Ya was keeping a photo of her ex-boyfriend in her laptop, so she was unhappy and wanted to test Gan Ya by kissing, but Gan Ya refused. Park Junhao then used the wire from his laptop to kiss Gan Ya's neck forcibly. Gan Ya bit Park Junhao's tongue hard during resistance (Park's tongue was sewn with six stitches). In an instant, Park Junhao tightened the wire on his hand, and Gan Ya fell to the ground, no movement. Park Junhao shook her body anxiously, but Gan Ya no longer had her heartbeat...
It was a little dawn, Park Junhao hurried to the South Korean consulate and surrendered to the Chinese police accompanied by consulate staff. Park Junhao was criminally detained and subsequently approved for arrest.
The indictment of the First Branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate held that the defendant Park Junhao deliberately killed a person and should be held criminally responsible for intentional homicide. The defendant Park Junhao had surrender and could be given a lighter or reduced punishment, and filed a public prosecution with the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
2. Focus of controversy
1. Should the defendant's behavior be determined as intentional homicide or negligent death?
3. Defense strategy
The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court was led by senior judges to openly hear this criminal case with international influence. The consul of the Korean Consulate accompanied Park Junhao's family to hire lawyer Li Xiaohua from Shanghai Li Xiaohua Law Firm as the defense lawyer of the defendant Park Junhao and the agent of the defendant in criminal civil litigation.
In the solemn trial hall, Korean consulate staff, Thai consulate staff, Park Junhao's parents, uncles and media reporters who came from South Korea occupied the seats early. In order to support the accusation, the prosecutor read out the evidence materials such as "Witness Testimony", "Cormory Examination Report", "Forensic Physical Evidence Inspection Report" and "Case Solving".
The defense lawyer submitted evidence: photos of the life of the defendant and the victim, letters and emails written by Gan Ya to Park Junhao to prove that Gan Ya was intimate with Park during her lifetime. The collegial panel believes that the evidence of this group is confirmed with the evidence provided by the public prosecution agency and can be confirmed.
Lawyer Li Xiaohua put forward his defense point of view:
1. The defendant Park Junhao had a close relationship with the victim. Park used his hands and power cord to wrap Gan Ya's neck to kiss her. In order to relieve the pain of being bitten by the tongue, he accidentally tightened the power cord and caused the victim to die. Park's behavior should constitute the crime of negligence to cause death;
2. The defendant Park Junhao has surrendered himself and can be given a lighter or reduced punishment, and has no record of bad records. The family expressed his willingness to compensate the victim's family for economic losses on his behalf.
Inductive Opinions: In order to reflect the basic principle of the legality of crimes and punishments in my country's criminal law and the adaptation of crimes and responsibilities and punishments, a fair judgment was made on the defendant Park Junhao based on the facts and laws of this case.
Fourth, court matters
The court held that the defendant Park Junhao had an argument with his girlfriend during love, and even used the means of strangling and strangling to cause the victim to die. His behavior constituted intentional homicide and should be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or more than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment. The public prosecution agency accused the defendant Park Junhao of intentional homicide. Although the defendant Park Junhao is a South Korean citizen, he shall bear criminal liability according to Article 6, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, "Any crime committed in the field of the People's Republic of China shall be subject to this Law unless otherwise specified by the law."
After committing the crime, the defendant Park Junhao took the initiative to surrender to the public security organs through the South Korean Consulate General in Shanghai. After being arrested, he was able to truthfully confess his crime of intentional homicide. During the trial, although he had different confessions on the time of the tongue bitten, he still confessed the facts of the crime such as the time, place, means, and consequences of the murder. He can be considered surrender. In accordance with the provisions of Article 67, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, he may be given a lighter punishment. Therefore, the defense lawyer's opinion on requesting a lighter punishment for the defendant Park Junhao can be adopted.
The court ruled that the defendant Park Junhao was sentenced to life imprisonment for intentional homicide.
5. Extended thinking
The life imprisonment sentence for this transnational criminal case not only demonstrates the absolute protection of the right to life by our criminal law, but also reflects the judicial rational consideration of the circumstances of surrender. By constructing a double-layer defense system of "intentional distinction of behavior" and "reduction of passion crimes", lawyer Li Xiaohua provided a key sentencing reference for the court - the chain of evidence submitted by him effectively eliminated the subjective presumption of premeditated murder, and although the defense view of the crime of negligence caused death was not adopted, it prompted the collegial panel to deeply analyze the causal relationship between neck strangling behavior and tongue biting reaction. The court finally established the criteria for identifying subjective malice in passionate crimes by accurately distinguishing the intentional behavior of "neck-stranging" from the stress response of "tongue bite".
As a foreign-related criminal case, the judgment strictly follows the principle of territorial jurisdiction and demonstrates China's judicial sovereignty and rule of law civilization to the international community. The prosecution and defense trial follow the principle of "transnational judicial cooperation". The three parties in China, South Korea and Thai witnessed the trial throughout the process. Professional defense not only safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of the defendant, but also enhanced the international credibility of the judicial process.
This tragedy that began with a foreign relationship warns us that conflicts in intimate relationships should be resolved through legal means, and that any violence in the name of love will not be forgiven by law. The trial process witnessed by China, South Korea and Thai not only demonstrates the rigor of Chinese judicial organs for foreign-related cases, but also demonstrates the important role of professional lawyers in criminal defense.
6. Legal link
"Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 475: Foreign-related criminal cases referred to in this interpretation refer to:
(1) Cases of foreigners committing crimes in the territory of the People's Republic of China or crimes committed by our citizens against foreigners or foreigners;
(2) Cases of crimes committed by Chinese citizens outside the territory of the People's Republic of China in accordance with the circumstances stipulated in Articles 7 and 10 of the Criminal Law;
(3) Cases of crimes committed by foreigners in accordance with the circumstances stipulated in Articles 8 and 10 of the Criminal Law;
(4) Cases in which the People's Republic of China exercises jurisdiction within the scope of its obligations under international treaty that comply with the circumstances stipulated in Article 9 of the Criminal Law.
(All the characters involved in this article are pseudonyms)