"2. There are contradictions and doubts between the evidence in this case, and there is a lack of reasonable explanation, and reasonable doubt cannot be excluded. The details are as follows:

1. Deng Shiyun once stated that Niu Jiayan wore blue pajamas with cartoon patterns before going to bed, but the on-site investigation records and photos all showed that Niu Jiayan was wearing beige pajamas with cartoon patterns.

Deng Shiyun said that he did not change Niu Jiayan's pajamas after the incident, and Fang Xinyue never confessed that he had changed the victim's pajamas after killing Niu Jiayan. Why Niu Jiayan's clothes have changed, the available evidence cannot provide a reasonable explanation.

2. There is a contradiction between the evidence regarding the location of the hidden knife, the tool of the crime, at the scene.

Defendant Fang Xinyue had confessed that she had put a knife on the bedside table after committing the crime. In his first confession, Deng Shiyun said that when he woke up, he found the knife in his hand. The witness Jiang Wenfei (the landlord) testified that after she entered the scene, she found a hidden knife on the ground in Deng Shiyun's room.

However, the records of the investigation of the scene showed that there was a hidden knife on the wooden table in the house, and there were blood stains on the knife. The above four pieces of evidence proved that the tools of the crime were placed in different locations and could not be reasonably explained.

3. Deng Shiyun's husband Niu Wang said that the key to the house was missing, and the investigators did not verify the situation with Deng Shiyun, Niu Wang, the landlord and other relevant personnel, and could not determine whether anyone else held the key to Deng Shiyun's house.

At that time, there were three tenants in the compound at the scene of the crime, and the investigators did not investigate the residents after the crime, and could not rule out the possibility that others had committed the crime or entered the scene.

3. The prosecutor alleges that in the course of chatting, the defendant Fang Xinyue gave Deng Shiyun a milk tea with sedative drugs prepared in advance, and that the defendant stabbed Niu Jiayan in the neck with a knife while Deng Shiyun was asleep, and then cut Deng Shiyun's right wrist with a knife, causing Deng Shiyun a slight injury.

The evidence on record also showed that diazepam and alprazolam were detected in the blood stains on Deng Shiyun's pajamas and bed sheets at the scene, which seemed to corroborate the above facts alleged by the public prosecution.

However, the defendant never confessed the details of the sleeping tranquilizers he put into the drink and gave it to Deng Shiyun. Moreover, the day after the incident, the investigating agency sent Deng Shiyun's venous blood and urine for testing, and the appraisal opinion showed that no sleeping tranquilizers were detected in the above-mentioned samples.

In addition, the on-site investigation record did not mention that there were milk tea drink bottles at the scene, and the relevant evidence was not extracted from the record, so it was impossible to determine whether there was a drink bottle claimed by Deng Shiyun at the scene, and it was impossible to further determine whether there were sleeping tranquilizers in the drink bottle.

Therefore, the available evidence on record cannot confirm that after Fang Xinyue purchased milk tea, she put sleeping and tranquilizer drugs into the milk tea. According to the evidence on record, Deng Shiyun's claim that he fell asleep after drinking the drinks brought by Fang Xinyue has not been confirmed, in other words, there is no reasonable explanation for why Deng Shiyun was unaware of the criminal acts.

To sum up, except for the guilty confession made by the defendant Fang Xinyue, other evidence can only prove the occurrence of the crime, and cannot establish a connection between the defendant Fang Xinyue and the homicide. The details of defendant Fang Xinyue's confession lacked other evidence to corroborate, and its authenticity lacked guarantees, and her confession could not be used as the basis for a verdict. There is a lack of reasonable explanation for the important contradictions and doubts between the evidence in this case.

Therefore, the defender believes that the facts of the crime against Fang Xinyue that the prosecutor accused Fang Xinyue of committing homicide are unclear, the evidence is insufficient, and the charges cannot be established, and requests the court to acquit the defendant Fang Xinyue in accordance with the law. Complete. After Fang Yi finished his defense opinions, he looked at the presiding judge.

……

After a 10-minute adjournment, the presiding judge pronounced the verdict on the spot.

The collegial panel held that the facts of the public prosecution's accusation that the defendant Fang Xinyue had retaliated for killing Niu Jiayan due to emotional entanglements were unclear, that the doubts and contradictions existing between the evidence could not be eliminated, and that the existing evidence could not prove the facts of the crime alleged in the indictment, nor could it completely rule out the possibility of others committing the crime.

Defendant Fang Xinyue's defender's defense opinion that the evidence in this case is insufficient and that the prosecution's accusations cannot be sustained is adopted. Accordingly, the collegial panel declared that the defendant Fang Xinyue was not guilty.

In fact, until the end of the trial, Fang Yi and Sui Xia still didn't know what happened on the night of the crime, who killed Niu Jiayan, and who caused the scars on Deng Shiyun's wrists.

However, this did not prevent Fang Yi from defending Fang Xinyue's innocence, because the burden of proving the guilt lies with the procuratorate, and the evidence provided by the procuratorate cannot eliminate reasonable doubt, as Fang Yi said to the defendant's father Fang Zugen, there is never any doubt about the guilt.

After the trial, Fang Yi and Sui Xia did not disturb the Fang family's tears of joy and left the court.

Fang Yi looked at the time, it was already more than three o'clock in the afternoon, he looked at Sui Xia and asked, "Sui Xia, are you hungry?" ”

"From nine o'clock in the morning, until now, my stomach has been rumbling." Sui Xia said with a bitter face, carrying a bag in his right hand and covering his stomach with his left hand.

"Let's go, I'll invite you to dinner." Fang Yi was also hungry, but he was still in a good mood.

Maybach stopped outside a barbecue restaurant, Fang Yi and Sui Xia ordered some food and drink, and soon the barbecue was served, and the two of them ate.

"Master, are there many cases of this kind of suspicion? I mean, did you handle a lot of these kinds of cases in the past? Sui Xia swallowed the barbecue in his mouth, took a sip of orange juice, and asked.

"I've done this kind of case before, but to be honest, I don't say much.

In judicial practice, the court's determination of a suspected crime will closely follow the burden of proof and the standard of proof prescribed by law, and the review will be relatively strict.

However, in view of the general trivial issues in the case and the doubts that do not affect the facts of the conviction, the court will generally not easily apply the principle of no guilt in doubt. Therefore, 'never guilty in doubt' sounds beneficial to the defendant, but in fact, it is quite difficult to really apply.

Today's case is considered to have caught up, some lawyers may not be able to encounter this kind of case in their lifetime, and sometimes even if they do, the lawyer's defense opinions may not be adopted by the collegial panel. Fang Yi smiled.

"It's not my luck, it's your luck, I'll follow it." Sui Xia said with a smile.

"Alright, let's eat." Fang Yi smiled.

……

In the director's office at Sidley Austin LLP, Wan Kefa was drinking tea and thinking about something. Across from him sat Du Sanniang.

"Lao Wan, when will Fang Yi take over?" Du Sanniang leaned back on the chair, looked at the fat old man opposite, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart: It's old in a blink of an eye.

"He said that he would go through the procedures in the middle of the year, but I think this kid is a bit out of the picture." Wan Kefa shook his head.

"Then you'll have to figure it out! You can't let Xiao Fang be so consumed. Was he afraid that he would not be able to convince the public? Du Sanniang asked.

(End of chapter)