After communicating with Karen, Arthur returned to the cell where he was detained, and saw the tall, thin man with a disheveled head.

He sat cross-legged on the ground motionless, and beside him there was a skinny black man with curly hair who was always big and spinning, looking up and down the tall and thin man. Everyone else in the cell was on the sidelines, no one liked to cause trouble, but no one didn't like to watch the excitement either. The obviously doesn't like being thin and tall, and wants to find some stubble to pass the time.

"Hey man, are you awake? When it's dawn, you'd better find a corner to huddle in, so it's more comfortable, you say? "The tall and thin man sat in the middle of the cell, and it was very eye-catching. This little black obviously has nothing to do, and wants to let the tall and thin man move his nest. But the thin and tall man was unmoved, the alcohol on his body had dissipated a lot, and his sloppy appearance still looked sloppy, but the whole person seemed to be much more energetic. He sat cross-legged on the ground and did not move, like a statue.

Blackie crouched down and reached to tug at his beard, Arthur suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Blackie's wrist.

"Don't do it, if you want to live longer."

Xiao Hei looked at Arthur, Arthur was tall and strong, and he was also very temperamental, and he was very capable of bluffing.

"What do you mean? Could it be that he has electricity on him? What happens if I touch him? Electrocuted? Xiao ** asked in his sharp voice, this guy is an addict, just boring. In addition, the whole person is a little nervous from drugs, and he has been looking for nothing since he was caught.

Arthur couldn't answer Blackie's question, he just had a feeling that this tall and thin man was an extremely dangerous figure. The one who spoke in his ear last night was this homeless man. If he had a poker with him, Arthur would have taken it out to show the tall and lanky man. However, the cards are in the safe at home.

After a while, a policeman came in, slapped the tall thin man awake, and said, "Get up, Vinson, wake up, wake up!" ”

The tall thin man opened his eyes, looked sleepy-eyed, looked up at the police, and said, "Oh... Oh, where is this... Shit, am I drunk? I'm sorry, I'm sorry......" The tall and thin man muttered sorry in his mouth, and was pulled up by the police and taken out of his cell. This guy is supposed to be an alcoholic troublemaker, and he was caught at the police station and locked up overnight, and it can be seen that this is not the first time. Before leaving the cell, he turned his head to look at Arthur, and the door slammed shut.

……

Arthur spent two days in a police station's detention cell, with two more arraignments in between, including an interrogation by prosecutors, who presented Arthur with an important piece of evidence — traces of liquid extracted from Joya Cethi's skirt the other day, consistent with Arthur's DNA tests. This is a rather lethal piece of evidence, and the prosecutor believes that Arthur can plead guilty and get convicted directly by skipping the jury round.

But unexpectedly, Arthur still insisted on pleading not guilty, and said that he could accept a public trial by a jury to confirm his guilt. Because it was not a big case, the prosecution did not do much other work, and everything was seen in court. For Arthur, the biggest pain of staying in his cell was missing the first two live streams of this year's finals, and he could have easily made a fortune by placing bets.

On June 10, the second game between the Rockets and the Knicks was played in Houston, and the Knicks defeated the Rockets 91-83, and the score between the two sides was 1-1. The third game will move to Madison Square Gardens in New York. For Arthur, this will be his chance to give Jackie Gandolfil a heavy blow. In this game, bets in the New York area are sure to skyrocket, and if the calculation is wrong, the casinos in Gandolfer are bound to suffer significant losses.

Arthur had to leave before June 12.

On June 11, Arthur's sexual assault case went to trial. The court session is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the New York County Courthouse in Manhattan. Arthur was escorted here early in the morning to await trial, where he saw Karen again. She changed into a silver-gray uniform jacket today to make herself look more mature. She just graduated this year and is still in her internship, and she doesn't want to look like a rookie. This is not her first case, but her first felony indictment. If Arthur is convicted, he will be sentenced to at least four years in prison.

For some reason, Arthur, who was sitting across from him, didn't look nervous at all, he was there to pick his nails.

"Aren't you worried at all?" Karen still couldn't help but ask.

Since her last brief encounter in the library, Karen has had a lot of nostalgia for Arthur, but her busy work and the gap between the two in their social circles quickly made her forget about this handsome man with a half-Eastern face. When they met again, they didn't expect to take over his sexual assault case, and when Karen first saw the information, she couldn't help but look down on Arthur, but she didn't expect him to be such a person. However, upon contact, it was discovered that the person was shrouded in something as mysterious as his black eyes.

"Don't you already have the evidence?" Arthur changed his fingers to pick out his ears, and he couldn't take a bath in prison, and his body was a little itchy.

"That's right, and it's very solid evidence... If you had taken it out earlier, maybe there would not have been this trial. ”

"But they still have evidence of my DNA, how do you explain that?"

"It's easy to explain, maybe you had a relationship with her at another time, you did it voluntarily, or ......"

"Or what?"

"Or... It's nothing. ”

"Why don't you keep talking? Or, I did rape her, but I did it in time to make Joya think I had sexually assaulted her at 10:30. ”

Karen stared at Arthur without speaking, she did not deny Arthur's statement, it was indeed really strange. Both sides have solid evidence, but the conclusions are completely opposite, indicating that one side is definitely lying. Arthur's statement is bizarre, but not impossible, and Karen doesn't know for a moment whether Arthur is telling the truth or joking.

Arthur suddenly laughed and said, "Actually, there is another possibility, that is, someone wanted to frame me, rummaged through the garbage bag and found my used condom, and collected my liquid from it." After committing the sexual assault, they were sprinkled on Joya's skirt. Don't forget, Joya and I are neighbors, and the dumpster is right at the entrance of the building. And, dear Karen, do you think I need to use violent means if I want to get a woman? ”

Karen's eyes suddenly became ambiguous and soft, she gently brushed her hair, and said, "It's hard to say, not everyone likes you like this." ”

"But you like it."

Karen blushed suddenly, and she tidied up the hem of her clothes a little crampedly, letting her inexplicably elevated blood pressure drop a little. Damn cook, is this still a courtroom waiting room? The two looked at each other more and more ambiguously, and a crazy idea came to Karen's head, if it wasn't for the courthouse, if it wasn't for Arthur's hands still wearing shackles.

"Arthur, Arthur Luciano! It's time for you to go to court. The bailiff came in at this time, breaking the delicate atmosphere between the two.

……

Arthur watched American court trials on television in later generations. In court, the lawyers of the prosecution and defense presented evidence one after another, questioned witnesses, and engaged in fierce exchanges to convince the jury of the guilt or innocence of the suspects. And the judge is on top and does a good job of balance, guiding the jury to make a final verdict within the framework of the law. After determining whether or not guilty is guilty, the judge will then sentence according to the circumstances of the crime.

Sitting in the dock, Arthur was unhandcuffed. He looked at the jurors sitting on the jury bench, men and women, black and white, old and young. They come from all walks of life and positions, and they only have legal knowledge but no legal knowledge, and rely on the basic moral code and intuition of one citizen to determine whether another citizen is guilty or not.

Before the trial began, the jurors had been selected by the prosecution and defense, and 20 members were screened and excluded based on their gender, race, job, family background, religious beliefs, etc., excluding those who might obviously impose a sentence unfavorable to them. It is difficult for Arthur to judge the way the court is heard and judged, which is very different from that of his home country, he just feels that it is troublesome.

Arthur looked back at the auditorium, where Dorothy was sitting in a light blue coat and beckoned to Arthur. Sitting next to Arthur was Gina, who looked at Arthur with a somewhat complicated look in her eyes. She would rather Arthur had committed homicide than sexual assault. If Arthur knew Gina's thoughts, he would definitely want to have such a girlfriend, why not be shot.

In addition to these two people, another person Arthur knew turned out to be Carson. I don't know if he came to listen out of the anger of his friends, or if he was on Schmidt's orders to find out the news. With Arthur's knowledge of Carson, he felt that the latter was more likely. Arthur was sure that this must have something to do with Schmidt, and he would definitely want him to look good when he went out.

Russell, Montolo, Abramo and others did not appear for reasons of avoiding suspicion. If they show up and are recognized by the police, it will undoubtedly complicate the matter. Presiding over today's trial is Judge Hoffman, who, according to Karen, is a younger, more flexible enforcer. I just don't know if this trait is good or bad for Arthur.

After taking the oath of office, Judge Hoffman asked the prosecution and defense to make opening statements, introduce the facts of the case, and present their case claims.

The prosecution prosecutor is a middle-aged man with brown hair who looks quite imposing. Joya chose to avoid it as a victim, and Joya's father, Uncle Ceci, sat next to the prosecutor as a representative, but when Arthur looked at Sesi, Cesi looked a little flustered and didn't dare to look at Arthur.

He got up and made his case. In his statement, Arthur became a villain who took advantage of the trust of his neighbors to break into private homes, use violent means to coerce and beat women, and sexually assault her. The prosecutor described it in a vivid picture and showed the jury photos of the victim's injuries after being beaten. The prosecution made a guilty claim because the victim made it clear that the perpetrator was his neighbor, Arthur Luciano.

And Karen's case statement is very simple, "As a woman, I have deep sympathy for what happened to the victim and hope that the perpetrator will be brought to justice." However, the person who violated the victim, Gioia Ceci, was not Arthur Luciano, but someone else, who caught the wrong person. Arthur Luciano, not guilty. ”

"Okay, then may I ask, are the prosecution and defense ready to show their facts?" At the end of the two case presentations and claims, Judge Hoffman asked. After receiving an affirmative answer, the trial entered the stage of presenting evidence. In U.S. courtrooms, witnesses are crucial. However, in this case, there was a lack of effective eyewitnesses, so the prosecution's main evidence came from the victim's confession and the liquid stains found on her clothes.

The prosecution presented the court with the results of a DNA test that proved that the liquid stains on Joya's clothes came from Arthur Luciano. This is hard evidence, since 1986, when DNA technology began to be used in criminal investigations, for most sexual assault cases, the residue found in the victim's female body once it is genetically matched is almost ironclad.

When Gina in the auditorium saw this evidence, tears were about to fall. Dorothy on the side hurriedly comforted and said, "Don't worry, Gina, I swear it's not Arthur, you went to the same school that day, Arthur has been with me all the time." ”

"Then why don't you testify for him?" Gina asked.

"Because he has more tangible evidence." Dorothy replied, of course, there was another reason, which was that Arthur didn't want the slightest leak about the Hearts.

It was the defense's turn to present evidence, and Karen called Witness No. 1, a traffic cop in Brooklyn, Reggie Jackson.

"Officer Jackson, what are you doing where you are on Sunday, June 5th, around 10:30 p.m.?"

"I'm at work, checking for drunk driving near the Brooklyn Central Interchange, with my partner Lance."

"Did you find a man named Arthur Luciano? He was riding a motorbike and had alcohol in his blood. ”

"I can't remember the name, but there was a guy on a motorcycle who was stopped by us for a test at about 10:30. The blood alcohol level, if I'm not mistaken, was 0.07%, which was below the 0.1% drunk driving standard in New York City, so we let it go. ”

"Did you leave any documents?"

"Yes, although he didn't drink and drive, he was speeding while driving, and I gave him a speeding ticket with my signature on it, and it should have his signature."

Karen was pleased with Jackson's answer. She then took the speeding ticket from the Brooklyn traffic police out of her evidence bag and showed it to the jury and the judge. Time, place, signature, write clearly. On June 5th, at 10:30 p.m., Arthur was still on his way back to Manhattan.

"I did a handwriting test and the signature on the ticket was Arthur Luciano's. Also, there is surveillance footage under the central elevated highway, which can also prove that Arthur was not in the Manhattan apartment at that time, but on the way back. By the time he got home, it was already early in the morning. ”