CHAPTER 428: CHAPTER 327: RELEASED IN COURT

Minamoto Tamako understood what this sentence meant.

The Yoshikawa couple hadn’t reacted yet, but they vaguely sensed that the verdict was starting to tilt unfavorably.

The Prosecutor sat upright in shock, quickly flipping through the report submitted by Lawyer Kikuta before the trial, discovering that he had indeed submitted relevant materials before the trial, although they were buried among a pile of nonsense and reports, clearly intentionally.

The judge adjusted his glasses and began to carefully read the materials in his hand.

In 1991, the average Japanese judge handled between 1300 to 1600 cases a year, with only 365 days in a year. The assessment of Japanese judges is primarily based on the "case completion rate," requiring them to efficiently handle a large volume of cases, making it evident how great the pressure is on judges. Essentially, they hastily glance at case files before starting trials, with some even reviewing files on the spot in court.

Seizing the opportunity, Kikuta Akio continued his statement:

"According to the site report provided by the Prosecutor, after the police arrived at the scene, they didn’t find any wounds on Mr. Fujiwara; furthermore, the DNA testing sufficiently proved that the bloodstains on the murder weapon originated from Yoshikawa Ritsuo herself, with no other special components, including but not limited to dyes, animal blood, plant fluids, etc."

"From this, it can be concluded that Mr. Fujiwara’s act of murder doesn’t hold."

"Imagine if Mr. Fujiwara could stab Yoshikawa Ritsuo without holding the knife? If he had held the knife beforehand and wiped off fingerprints on the handle, Miss Yoshikawa’s fingerprints wouldn’t be on the handle..."

The Prosecutor was in a rush, sweating from his forehead, realizing that Kikuta Akio couldn’t be allowed to continue speaking. He hurriedly raised his hand and said, "Objection!"

The judge indicated for him to state the opposition reason, and the Prosecutor gathered his thoughts, holding his forehead and said, "There’s also a possibility that Fujiwara Homare held Yoshikawa Ritsuo’s hand back, forcing her to hold the fruit knife..."

"Then stabbed her in the back?" Kikuta Akio interrupted.

The Prosecutor was momentarily speechless, imagining the position seemed unlikely to be realized.

Kikuta Akio replied, "Indeed, Prosecutor Kitajima’s stated situation could possibly occur if Yoshikawa Ritsuo were unconscious, but the autopsy report clearly stated that the deceased did not take any medication, including sleeping pills, and there are witness testimonies in the file clearly indicating that Yoshikawa Ritsuo walked into the hotel awake."

The Prosecutor had nothing to say, so he could only sit back down and start checking his watch.

The Yoshikawa couple couldn’t help but loudly refute, questioning Kikuta Akio how their daughter died if Fujiwara Homare didn’t commit the murder.

The judge knocked the gavel, demanding silence, stating that if there was a fourth time, they would be expelled from the court.

Lawyer Kikuta faced the judge, elaborating his reasoning.

On the night of the incident, Yoshikawa Ritsuo went to a bar due to heartbreak, trying to drown her sorrows, and unexpectedly met an old schoolmate, Fujiwara Homare (the file clearly states their high school relationship). The two talked for a while, and lonely young men and women inevitably sparked a flame, thus Yoshikawa Ritsuo ’followed’ Fujiwara Homare to the hotel...

Doi Izuki couldn’t bear it anymore, stood up to retort, claiming Ritsuo wasn’t that kind of person and would never go to a bar for casual sex.

The judge, also exasperated, signaled the bailiff to expel her, as Doi Izuki lost her privilege to attend, having to wait outside the courtroom for the verdict.

Regarding her doubts, Kikuta Akio provided a definite response.

He found Yoshikawa Ritsuo’s consumption records from a pile of materials, proving she had visited Arima Toshio’s private clinic, the latter being a psychologist with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Kyoto University.

This sufficiently indicated that Yoshikawa Ritsuo’s mental state at the time was unstable, so the occurrence of drunken promiscuous behavior wasn’t surprising.

The judge recognized his statement and signaled him to continue his exposition.

The Yoshikawa couple held each other’s hands tightly, pursed their lips, staring at Lawyer Kikuta’s mouth, afraid he might utter another terrifying word.

"As I’ve stated earlier, Yoshikawa Ritsuo’s mental state before death was unstable, very possibly showing tendencies of self-harm or masochism, or possibly acquired a mental disorder like delusions of persecution, otherwise explaining her behavior of carrying a fruit knife is impossible."

"From this, it can be further inferred: upon arriving at the hotel, Yoshikawa Ritsuo attempted self-harm with the fruit knife. She was employed as a teacher in Primary School, if found with wounds on the arm or thigh, she could very likely lose her position as an elementary school teacher, thus she had no choice but to choose to stab the least visible part... that is the back."

"This explains the bizarre stab wound on Yoshikawa Ritsuo’s back."

"And my client, Mr. Fujiwara, in a drunken state, attempted to prevent Yoshikawa Ritsuo from committing suicide. In this process, he took away the fruit knife, thus leaving his fingerprint in the blood scab on the knife handle."

"The autopsy report also stated that Yoshikawa Ritsuo died from acute massive bleeding due to a ruptured spleen, in other words, she died from excessive bleeding."

"This process probably required half an hour, or even several hours before leading to shock or death."

"Mr. Fujiwara was not sober at the time and mistakenly took sleeping pills for sobering medicine, subsequent pharmacological testing showed traces of sleeping pill residue in his body... therefore when the police arrived, Mr. Fujiwara was still asleep on the bed."

"Yoshikawa Ritsuo, having lost too much blood, didn’t have the strength to call for help, nor leave, could only collapse on the floor, slowly bleeding to death."

"Besides, Mr. Fujiwara didn’t have a clear motive for murder, only because of a post-drunken blackout did he misremembered the night’s events, mistakenly believed he committed the murder, thus leading to making a guilty confession."

"All things considered, my client neither constitutes intentional murder nor manslaughter. Based on Japan’s penal code, lawyer ethics, and humanitarian principles, I counter the charge and assert my client’s innocence."

...

At this very moment, the courtroom displayed various human emotions.

Mrs. Yoshikawa silently shed tears, sobbing sounds echoed throughout the courtroom; Mr. Yoshikawa clenched his fists, his forehead veins bulging, gritting his teeth silently.

Director Fujiwara appeared calm, as if he had anticipated everything; Mrs. Fujiwara was crying with joy, repeatedly shaking her husband’s arm, nearly cheering out loud on the spot.

Fujiwara Homare sat at the defendant’s seat, several times wanting to speak but stopping short. When it was his turn to speak, he couldn’t say a word. The judge asked him if the lawyer’s defense was true, and he looked down, fiddling with his fingers, claiming he couldn’t remember.

Minamoto Tamako’s mind was in chaos, her eyes darting around. She was astonished that Lawyer Kikuta could deduce part of the truth and conflicted about him clearing Fujiwara Homare of the charge of assisting suicide.

The stenographer’s ten fingers danced, the typewriter clattering, recording everything said in the courtroom.

There was no further need to summon witnesses. All they could confirm was that the two were alone in a room without a third person coming in or out, and no one witnessed the entire crime.

Finally, with the presiding judge’s consent, the victim’s family could state their opinions, question witnesses, and raise doubts.

If they couldn’t provide valuable clues to overturn Lawyer Kikuta’s logical chain, then it’s likely that Fujiwara Homare would be acquitted.

The Yoshikawa couple scanned everyone in the courtroom, their gaze lingering long on Mrs. Fujiwara and Fujiwara Homare. They wore expressions of grief, their lips trembling, looking hopefully at the court-appointed defense lawyer, who sighed deeply and whispered something to them.

The elderly couple wept silently.

Minamoto Tamako empathized, feeling so upset that she wanted to cry. Fushimi Roku covered her ears, holding her head, and said, "Let’s go. There’s nothing more to see."

"The judge hasn’t pronounced the verdict yet!" Minamoto Tamako whispered.

"There’s no suspense. Watching further will just make you miserable." Fushimi Roku understood the conditions for a court ruling better than she did. The judge could, at most, send it back for supplementary investigation or request a retrial, but the final outcome would remain unchanged.

Whether it’s the logical chain or the evidence chain, Kikuta Akio’s argument was clearly more complete.

"What if I present that tape?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"Would it change anything? Didn’t Yoshikawa Ritsuo die by suicide?" Fushimi Roku was prepared, logically rebutting, "The recording only proves that Lawyer Kikuta’s reasoning was correct, that Fujiwara Homare indeed tried to stop Yoshikawa Ritsuo from committing suicide... Moreover, because the crucial conversation is unclear, it can’t prove that Fujiwara Homare assisted Yoshikawa Ritsuo in suicide. Pure reasoning is useless; in court, evidence matters."

Minamoto Tamako realized it was a deadlock. No matter how it was resolved, someone would get hurt.

Fushimi Roku continued to urge her to leave. She stubbornly tucked her head down, sat in place, forcing herself to observe and write down everything happening before her.

She couldn’t think of a better way now, but as long as she learned from this, constantly reviewing and expanding her thinking, someday, when she encountered a similar case, she would definitely come up with a perfect solution...

She absolutely would!

Fushimi Roku had no choice but to sit down again, crossing his legs, his hands folded on his knees.

He was extremely irritable. Demon Chuanhe appeared, urging him to leave quickly, out of sight, out of mind; Angel also appeared, telling him to stay and see it through to the end, as it was all orchestrated by him. As the instigator, he had to see how it ended.

Mr. Yoshikawa swallowed his tears, wiping them away with his sleeve, and loudly questioned where the fingerprint report on the fruit knife came from. Wasn’t the murder weapon lying in the police station? How did Kikuta Akio, as the defense lawyer for the defendant, enter the police station to retrieve the weapon for testing?

Everyone knew the reason.

Director Fujiwara was the head of the Police Department; all he needed to do was ask to retrieve a piece of evidence from the evidence room.

Lawyer Kikuta left no trace, claiming that the Police Department had implemented a new regulation the day before, requiring evidence to be tested again by a third-party testing agency before preservation, and the report to be made public—this regulation intended to prevent wrongful convictions, giving the Police Department a chance to correct itself.

Therefore, the judge stated the questioning was invalid; the procedures for testing the murder weapon were legitimate and compliant. If Mr. Yoshikawa suspected testing fraud, he could file another lawsuit.

After speaking, he once again asked Mr. Yoshikawa if he had anything else to say.

To the Yoshikawa couple, this sounded like the judge was covering up for the murderer. Mr. Yoshikawa’s eyes reddened, and even though the judge asked the same question three times, he said nothing.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, the presiding judge said that if they remained silent, it would be considered they had finished speaking.

"Do whatever you want." Mr. Yoshikawa squeezed this sentence out from between his teeth.

The presiding judge sighed, reviewed the materials once more to ensure there were no omissions. Lawyer Kikuta’s logical and evidence chains were flawless. He knew very well that even if the investigation continued, there would be no result, so he announced the acquittal verdict.

With the sound of the gavel, Fujiwara Homare was released in court.

The trial ended; everyone stood up, as customary, to salute the judge.

However, Mr. Yoshikawa suddenly leapt over the barrier, lunging at Fujiwara Homare. Seeing this, the bailiffs rushed forward to stop him, but unexpectedly, Mr. Yoshikawa held a long, sharp piece of glass, which he swung, slashing Fujiwara Homare’s chest.

"Go to hell!"

Mr. Yoshikawa roared.

He pinned Fujiwara Homare to the ground and raised the glass to stab at Fujiwara Homare’s neck. The latter instinctively raised his hand to block, and the glass pierced through his hand, spraying a large amount of blood onto his face.

Everyone was shocked; Mrs. Fujiwara screamed aloud; Director Fujiwara and Minamoto Tamako also jumped over the barrier, rushing to stop Mr. Yoshikawa; the judge waved to call for reinforcements, while the bailiffs held back Mrs. Yoshikawa, who was ready to assist. In an instant, the solemn courtroom was in chaos, with order and justice disappearing, leaving only the purest violence.

Fushimi Roku remained seated, his back straight, legs crossed, hands folded on his knee.

His temple throbbed, and his pupils reflected the furious faces of the victim’s family, overlapping once more with the memories of his past life.

The blood of Fujiwara Homare seemed to splash onto his face, burning like fire.