I especially like a sentence in lawyer Chen's speech:
A speck of public power falls on the client's head, which is a mountain, crushing his whole life and family.
It seems that the essence of criminal defense lawyers is to correct mistakes, point out the negligence or mistakes in the public security inspection law, urge them to correct or improve, and ensure a legally prescribed punishment for a crime.
Lawyers' initial intentions and beliefs are the basis of adhering to the law. Please enjoy the text ~
Dear colleagues in criminal defense,
Hello everyone!
On this cool and busy Monday morning, I thank the department for giving me such an opportunity to share my initial intention of criminal defense. Next, I use a case, a little sentiment and a heart to complete my speech today.
Let's talk about a case first
In the middle of June last year, Beijing, during that time, the sun kept burning, in a word, hot. Accompanied by the heat wave, is the second wave of COVID-19 epidemic.
At this time, I received a phone call from an old mother asking me to save her son. Her son, let's call him Zhang San. Zhang San just graduated from a well-known 985 college and works in a state-owned enterprise in Beijing. He didn't know how to take drugs and was locked up for more than a month. The police told the mother that her son would be quarantined for two years.
In order to know more about the situation, I met my old mother again and chatted. This mother is a cleaner, so it is not easy to raise a son. In her tearful story, I got the general idea of the matter. The old mother cried and said that if her son really had a serious drug addiction, she would admit how long he had been locked up, and she would certainly educate him when he came out. Just trying to figure out what's going on, maternal love is great and touching.
After accepting the entrustment, I went to the police station to understand the case.
I still remember it was a hot afternoon. I had a long chat with the police officer in charge at the gate of the police station.
The police officer said that catching Zhang San was an accident. They made a surprise inspection of a drug addict they focused on and found that several people were injecting methamphetamine, that is, ice. The urine test was positive and he was directly detained. Zhang San is one of them, but his hair test showed no drug residue.
The police officer said regretfully that Zhang San was strange, young and honest. He wanted to give Zhang San leniency and reported to the community for detoxification. The legal department looked at it and said, hey, it's all injecting drugs. You have to quit.
Finally, the police officer and I reconfirmed whether there was any drug residue in Zhang San's hair, and he said there was definitely no drug residue.
So far, Zhang San has been locked up for more than a month.
Because of the epidemic, the drug rehabilitation center is not allowed to meet. Zhang San can't see it, so he can only verify the situation through discipline. I only care about one thing, that is, whether Zhang San has withdrawal disorder or not, that is, whether he is addicted to drugs. Of course not, that's easy!
Here, several core facts have been basically confirmed: Zhang San was arrested for injecting ice; However, there is no drug residue in the examination, which indicates that it is not a long-term drug abuse; There was no withdrawal syndrome for more than a month, indicating that there was no drug addiction.
Based on this, my conclusion is that there is something wrong with Zhang San's injection of ice, but he is not addicted to drugs, which is much more serious. A fine or detention for a few days is enough, and there is no need for community detoxification, let alone compulsory isolation for two years.
I submitted a well-founded application for administrative reconsideration according to the process. Soon, the public security organ took the initiative to interview me.
On the day of the interview, it was raining in Mao Mao, and it was cool. The conversation went smoothly, and the police decided to cancel the compulsory detoxification decision and let people go. We cooperated with the withdrawal of the application for reconsideration.
A few days later, Zhang San walked out of the drug rehabilitation center. The scene of mother and son looking at each other in tears is very touching. Everyone can think of it, so I won't go into details.
Listen to the case. You might think, this is not a criminal case either. What does it have to do with the initial intention of criminal defense?
But you may have heard that this is a confrontation with the public security machine, which also involves personal freedom.
Moreover, this case gave me a particularly deep feeling.
One of the applicable conditions of compulsory detoxification is injecting drugs, which is true, but it is limited to the main body and only to drug addicts. Simply put, drug addicts can't be satisfied by smoking. Taking more stimulating injections will be considered as a serious drug addiction, which will lead to compulsory detoxification.
However, in this case, when the case-handling organ saw injecting drugs, it applied the law mechanically and made a wrong decision, which led to Zhang San being locked up for two months.
Through this case, I deeply realize that public authorities will inevitably have negligence or mistakes in handling cases, and these negligence or mistakes will affect the lives of the parties. For example, Zhang San, if he stays in a drug rehabilitation center for two years, his life may be completely ruined. And through my work, I have reduced the devastating blow to him to a minimum.
Someone once said that the dust of an era falls on an individual's head and is a mountain. I want to say that a dust of public power falls on the client's head, which is a mountain and destroys his whole life and family.
It seems that the essence of criminal defense lawyers is to correct mistakes, point out the negligence or mistakes in the public security inspection law, urge them to correct or improve, and ensure a legally prescribed punishment for a crime.
As long as there is the possibility of unjust, false and wrong cases, the existence of our criminal defense lawyers is extremely necessary!
At this point, let's talk about my initial intention.
It may be difficult for us to become top-level big coffee lawyers, and it is also difficult for us to become important people who influence one side, but we can still be kind and compassionate. We can handle the case seriously and professionally, so that the parties can feel justice and warmth, and let them feel that the legal provisions are not just simple words, but social rules that everyone must abide by, and it is also the belief that goes deep into the bone marrow of our legal person!
Someone once asked me, why do you lawyers defend the bad guys? In my opinion, as a criminal defense lawyer, my belief is the law. I firmly believe that without the legal judgment of the people's court, we can't determine anyone's guilt. It is our mission, my answer to this question and the initial intention of my criminal defense to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, the correct implementation of the law and the fairness and justice of the society!
What the heart wants, with the past. We should stick to our original intention and move forward bravely, rain or shine!
? The historical trend is surging, and the spirit of the red boat remains unchanged; No matter how the times change, only the rule of law will last forever!
I want to give this document to my colleagues in the criminal defense department. Thank you for listening to my speech.
Thank you!