Shadow Empire

Chapter 64 The moment of relief
The chief lawyer looked at the apprentice. He talked to the apprentice and told him what to say in order to get a forgiveness result from this case.

He told the truth, how Johnny had exploited his labor, how he had extorted money from him, and how he had humiliated him and his mother.

This kind of thing... to be honest, it doesn't make the judge feel that sorry for him, because there are many things that are more stupid and pitiful than this. He must have been kind and compassionate at the beginning, but after encountering all kinds of bad things, he became less easily angry and less likely to empathize with the weak.

"It does sound terrible." He turned to look at Johnny. "Since you don't have a defense lawyer, you have to defend yourself. I need to tell you that you must be responsible for every word you say. At the same time, every word you say will determine the direction of some things."

"Now, tell me, is what he said true?"

Johnny hesitated for a long time, not knowing what to say. Finally, he said, "But he wants to learn my formula. Working for me for free and paying my fee every month is the price."

He seemed to have thought of something, "Everyone knows that my bread is the best, so I don't think it's too much."

The judge nodded noncommittally, "What about his mother?"

"She volunteered!"

The judge raised his eyebrows, and Anthony immediately raised his hand, attracting the judge's attention. "Your Honor, I have a question for the plaintiff, Mr. Johnny."

The judge nodded, which was in compliance with the regulations. "Okay."

"First of all, you said these were the fees he paid you to learn your recipes. Did you teach him any recipes or techniques?"

Johnny was silent because he had never taught him anything, but he still tried to defend himself, "I taught him how to knead dough."

Anthony's lips curled up, "Everyone knows how to knead dough, that's not why your bread is delicious, so you didn't teach him any techniques after he actually paid you."

Johnny stopped talking. He couldn't lie in front of his apprentice.

"Mr. Johnny, did you deliberately use some vicious words in front of my client... to provoke him and achieve your purpose of deliberately humiliating him?"

"Did you intentionally leave the bedroom door ajar and toss the… lady around until she cried out?"

"Everything you did was actually to humiliate him more intensely and excitingly!"

"Before you answer yes or no, I hope you can think clearly and don't lie to the court and the judge, because we can always request to have his mother come here to appear in court."

“We are not inviting her now only out of respect and protection for women, but if you lie and try to deceive the judge and the court, perhaps we will let her come and confront you.”

Johnny's heart beat faster and he was sweating profusely. He did have such an idea. He wanted to see if he could continue to stimulate his apprentice and make him... He didn't know what kind of strange problem it was. Only when he did that would he feel excited and refreshed.

But now, facing the judge, he couldn't say it.

His continued silence also made the judge and the lawyer understand what he wanted to express.

"Your Honor, I have finished my questioning."

The judge casually wrote something on the paper in front of him, but no one could see it.

After about 20 to 30 seconds, he looked up and said, "The case is indeed simple, but also a little complicated. I thought it was just a simple violent robbery for money, but I didn't expect there would be so many unexpected things."

"Do either of you have any further questions or new evidence to present?"

"No, your honor."

Johnny was a little confused, but he also shook his head, "I don't have much to say, Your Honor."

Originally he thought he was quite right, but as the other lawyer kept talking nonsense, he suddenly felt that he was the unforgivable person!
He is obviously the victim!
The judge exhaled lightly, "Go ahead and make your statement."

Johnny looked confused, but Anthony was well prepared.

He "restored" the case from every angle: a young man who had been exploited, oppressed and severely humiliated, had no other options, so he turned to his friends to help him get justice, and eventually beat Johnny.

As for the money taken?

That was just a manifestation of the young people's immaturity. They were willing to return the stolen money and actively plead guilty.

Several young people took the initiative to stand up and apologize to Johnny, including the apprentice, who said that he should deal with these problems more rationally instead of turning all his emotions into violence.

A serious case of home robbery turned into retaliation. Retaliation and home robbery are two different things.

Revanchism is very prevalent in the federation and is rampant under the integration of multiple ethnic groups, so the judges even agree with their ideas to a certain extent, but do not agree with their practices.

That is to say, he also felt that he should take revenge on Johnny, but it should be done in a reasonable, appropriate, and legal way, rather than... beating him up and taking some money.

Anthony's statement was to hope that the judge would give these young people a light sentence because they had no criminal record, were actively contributing to society, and were willing to pay compensation.

I also hope that the court will consider the apprentice’s mental state when he made these decisions, some of the problems he was facing, take into account practical factors, and give him the opportunity to admit his mistakes and make corrections.

As for Johnny?

The judge looked at him and asked, "What do you think now?"

"That is, what do you want them to do?"

Johnny suddenly said loudly, "I hope they can be locked up for a few more years." The judge's expression did not change, but Anthony smiled. It really didn't take much brainpower to deal with such idiots.

Federal judges have great power, so if you want to be a good lawyer, you must understand the judge's emotional changes.

Throughout the trial, he was creating a story of a "young avenger" whose revenge was not successful because he was young.

The context of the matter is very clear and the story is told perfectly. If Johnny can show generosity and magnanimity, the judge may consider giving them a moderate sentence.

At least Johnny won't feel wronged.

But his current behavior makes the sarcastic and mean image created for him by Anthony and his apprentices more three-dimensional. The judge will naturally dislike such a person even more. After all, the judge is also a human being, and as a human being he will have his own subjective likes and dislikes.

When the judge's position began to become non-neutral, the case was settled.

"The court will be adjourned temporarily. The result will be announced in ten minutes..."

Anthony acted very relaxed, which made the young people and their families feel relieved. Only Johnny was depressed, as he felt he had been fooled by the lawyer.

He should hire a lawyer. He also felt that the judge in court seemed... not very respectful to him.

He knew he shouldn't use the word respect. What he wanted to express was that the judge's butt seemed to be crooked. Although the judge didn't show it, he could feel it.

The look in his eyes and his expression showed that he had something against me.

Damn!

Ten minutes passed quickly, and after returning to the court, the judge announced the result in court.

All six teenagers were first offenders with no criminal record and no danger to society. The two young men who broke Johnny's arms with sticks were sentenced to nine months (the one who broke Johnny's second arm) and one year (the one who broke Johnny's first arm) in prison respectively, and were ordered to perform 60 hours of compulsory community service.

The other three people did voluntary community work, all for more than 100 hours.

In addition, the stolen money must be returned and part of the expenses must be compensated.

Because Johnny has no lawyer to advocate for compensation on his behalf, the judge will only compensate according to what he can decide, which is compensation for mental damages, medical expenses, and nutritional expenses.

These things all have standards, you can just refer to them directly. As for the others?
Johnny doesn't have a lawyer and he has no claim of his own, so the court will definitely not help him.

As for the core of this case, the apprentice, the judge took into account that the incident had its reasons, but it did indeed cause serious consequences, considering that the apprentice was actually the weaker party throughout the incident.

So the judge was extraordinarily merciful and sentenced him to only three and a half years, with two hundred hours of compulsory labor to be performed after his release.

A successful case, Anthony shook hands with the parties involved and their families. This result was actually the best result, and it could even be said to be beyond his imagination.

The parents were very grateful to him and praised his ability. Of course, Anthony was also modest. "This is actually thanks to Mr. Johnny for not hiring a lawyer. If he had hired a lawyer, it would have been very difficult for us to get this result."

"It may even take at least two years, but..." He smiled in a way that could only be understood, "So this case is over. As for whether you want to continue to do anything, it has nothing to do with me."

Lawyer Anthony left soon, but Johnny was very unhappy and asked the judge why the sentence was so light. However, he was expelled from the court after just shouting a few words.

After thinking for a long time, the apprentice decided to continue to take revenge on Johnny.

When discussing the case with his lawyer, the lawyer told him that he planned to use Johnny's tax evasion as a deal to reach an out-of-court settlement.

But Johnny refused.

They got more than a thousand dollars from Johnny at one time, and it was obvious that there was something wrong with the money.

Even if there is no problem, the tax bureau can make it a problem. Who the hell has no business keeping so much cash at home?

You said there is no problem, that's great. Now please explain where every penny comes from and where it goes. If you can't explain it clearly, then there is a problem!

But now the case has reached the most perfect result, so Anthony will not continue to do unnecessary things. As for whether the apprentices and other young people will report it, that has nothing to do with him.

Unless someone needs him to continue to represent the case, once the report of tax evasion is submitted to the tax bureau, he is no longer needed to intervene.

The IRS not only has powerful military force, but also a powerful legal team!
"Dear Federal Taxation Bureau:"

"I am a worker in a bakery and I suspect my boss..."

The crooked words are not beautiful, but at least people can understand what he said.

After being checked by the bailiff, the letter paper, which totaled less than one-third of a page, was put into an envelope and dropped into the mailbox in the courtroom.

This type of mail reporting tax evasion does not require a stamp. We have contacted the Jingangcheng Tax Bureau and the post office, and they will bear the postage.

This was the last thing he did before serving his sentence. At the same time, he knew that his mother had left Jingang City, and perhaps they would never meet again in this life.

For a moment, all this made the apprentice feel relieved.

(End of this chapter)