I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 47

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“We will take the defense side.”

Jang Yong-hwan’s eyebrows twitched at that moment. At the same time, Jeong Min-sik, standing across from us, burst into laughter.

“Puhaha! Are you serious?”

He added in disbelief,

“You must not have even read the case record.”

“I did.”

“Then you must be blind.”

Jeong Min-sik pointed a finger at me.

“There’s a mountain of evidence to prove his guilt, and the defendant himself even confessed in the first trial. And you’re still choosing the defense side?”

“Yes.”

“That’s absurd.”

I ignored the barrage of criticism.

“Do you think I’m that easy to beat just because you got first place once? That you can win even with such unfavorable conditions? Don’t make me laugh.”

Jeong Min-sik gritted his teeth.

“That’s not confidence, that’s arrogance and recklessness. You’ll regret underestimating me.”

‘Hmm, he’s misunderstanding something.’

I didn’t deliberately choose the disadvantageous side.

I wasn’t in such a leisurely position to do something like that just for the thrill.

I simply chose this side because I thought it was more advantageous and that there was a way to win.

‘Well, there’s no need to explain it to him.’

Conversations with opponents should be held with swords and bows.

In the arena of the courtroom, legal principles and facts were the weapons.

Then, it was enough to clash with those.

Jeong Min-sik was about to continue his rant, but unexpectedly, Bae Hyun-jung, who had been standing silently beside him, stopped him.

He glanced at us with an anxious look and whispered something to Jeong Min-sik.

Although Jeong Min-sik still looked displeased, he eventually turned around with his teammates and headed towards the waiting room.

“Just you wait!”

Leaving his shout behind, we also moved to our waiting room.

“What’s going on?”

Lee Ha-ru asked as soon as the supervisor closed the door.

“We’re choosing the defendant’s side? It seemed like he was definitely guilty to me.”

“There must be something to it,”

Han Seol, who was now used to my methods, added.

“When he does something we don’t understand, it means he’s found the answer. Now, will you explain? What did you figure out in that short time that made you choose to defend the defendant?”

“I don’t know.”

“?”

Seeing the question mark on Han Seol’s face, I hurriedly added,

“I’m not saying I chose it without any basis. It’s true that there’s a much higher chance of this being the right answer. But… to confirm if I’m right, I need to examine the materials in depth.”

I picked up the thick case record and waved it.

“This case is very unnatural.”

“In what way?”

“Strictly speaking, this isn’t a real case. It’s a fabrication created for the mock trial competition. Then, it’s common to design it so that you can construct equally persuasive arguments for either side.”

Imagine a typical debate competition.

Aren’t the topics chosen those with fierce arguments for and against, where each side can prepare valid arguments and rebuttals?

Issues like the abolition of the death penalty, the legalization of euthanasia, or the legalization of same-sex marriage.

It’s not much different for a mock trial competition.

Its essence is similar to a debate, and there shouldn’t be a significant advantage or disadvantage simply because of the chosen position.

“But what about this case?”

All the materials were strangely biased towards the defendant Kim Gab-dong’s guilt.

It was a situation where the defendant, who had admitted to all the evidence and charges and even confessed in the first trial, was now changing his statement and appealing.

Even if I were the judge, I wouldn’t let him off the hook just because he was being difficult.

“…Certainly, it’s strange.”

“Didn’t they say that choosing a position is also part of the skill? What if they intended it to include choosing the advantageous side after reviewing the materials?”

Lee Ha-ru made a sharp point.

“That’s right, you’re right. I also think the true intention of this case lies there. But even considering that, it’s strange that it’s so clearly biased. Even a layperson, let alone a skilled law school student, would choose the side of Kim Gab-dong’s guilt after seeing this.”

I concluded,

“This is a trap.”

A trap blatantly laid out for us to fall into.

“You can’t read the specific details of all the evidence documents within the short 10 minutes. At best, you can only skim through the list and the first page of the documents related to each piece of evidence.”

“…That’s true.”

“Yes. Even in this situation, it’s clear that this question is about whether you can grasp the examiner’s true intention hidden beneath the surface of what’s presented.”

“What is that hidden intention?”

“That’s what we have to figure out now.”

The preliminary round questions aren’t created by the Ministry of Justice, which hosts the competition, but by the professors in charge of the preliminary round evaluation at each law school.

For the criminal division, at our school, it’s naturally Jang Yong-hwan who creates them.

As we’ve already experienced through his exam questions, Jang Yong-hwan is unparalleled in setting sinister traps.

But on the other hand, he also designs questions so that if you have a solid understanding of basic legal principles and a broad perspective, you can find the answer without excessive memorization.

Considering his style, there were a few things that came to mind.

However, to verify them, I needed time to examine the materials directly.

“Let’s look at the first piece of evidence.”

[Record of Kim Gab-dong’s Blood Alcohol Content Test]

…(omitted)… At the time of the measurement, the defendant’s face was flushed, and his eyes were bloodshot. Applying the ‘Widmark formula’ and considering that 5 hours and 25 minutes had passed since driving, the defendant’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving is estimated to be 0.066%.

“What’s the Widmark formula?”

“Even when measuring a drunk driver’s blood alcohol concentration, it’s not always the case that they’re caught immediately after driving. Depending on the situation, they might be caught and tested a few hours after driving.”

“That’s true.”

“In those cases, some of the alcohol would have already been broken down in their body during that time. The Widmark formula is a calculation method to backtrack that breakdown speed and figure out the blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving.”

“Ah.”

You don’t need to know the specific calculation method. You won’t have to calculate it yourself.

It’s enough to just know that it exists and that when applying the Widmark formula, you have to accurately grasp and reflect the individual characteristics of the person being tested, such as their weight and health condition.

“Could there be a problem with that part? There’s a Supreme Court precedent that says you can’t use an estimated value calculated by blindly applying the average value.”

“That’s a good point, but I don’t think we can use it in this case. The specific information about the defendant is well-reflected, and it even went through strict verification by an expert.”

I also thought about the part Han Seol pointed out, but unfortunately, in this case, the police officer who recorded the blood alcohol content test had conducted a very thorough investigation and recorded an appropriate estimated value.

It seemed difficult to argue that the data itself was wrong.

“Hmm, is there anything else…?”

“Let’s look at the circumstances surrounding the blood alcohol content test. There might be some clues there.”

I continued reading the investigation record left by the police officer in charge of the blood alcohol test.

[… (omitted) … While patrolling at night, I received a report from Mr. B, a guest at Motel A, stating that ‘there’s a strange banging sound coming from the floor above,’ and was dispatched to Motel A.
Upon knocking on the door of the room in question, the suspect, Kim Gab-dong, shouted from inside to ‘come back later, I’m tired after driving a long distance.’
Sensing something suspicious, I opened the door and entered the room. The smell of alcohol was strong, and Kim Gab-dong was standing there, staggering, completely drunk.
Therefore, recognizing the possibility of drunk driving, I conducted a blood alcohol test, and after reviewing the record… (omitted) …]

“As expected.”

A smile spread across my face as I read the record.

“Do you understand now?”

“Yes. This blood alcohol test record in this case is ‘illegally obtained evidence’.”

“…Huh?”

Article 308-2 (Exclusion of Illegally Obtained Evidence) Evidence collected not in accordance with legal procedures shall not be admissible as evidence.

Investigation is the process of collecting evidence.

However, not all evidence obtained during an investigation can be used in court.

Only evidence collected through lawful procedures is admissible as evidence.

‘It’s to protect the basic rights of citizens from the investigative power of the state.’

Investigative agencies, that is, the police and the prosecution, have immense power.

Even if they conduct investigations in a somewhat unlawful manner, it’s not easy for ordinary citizens to stop them.

In many cases, if they lack legal knowledge, they might not even know that what the police are doing is an unlawful investigation.

For example, entering a person’s home without a warrant and seizing their belongings, or threatening a suspect or lying that they will reduce their sentence if they confess to obtain a confession.

Therefore, to prevent such acts, it’s inevitable to make it impossible to use evidence obtained through unlawful methods, thereby eliminating any reason for investigative agencies to conduct unlawful investigations in the first place.

“Conducting the blood alcohol test itself isn’t a problem. There’s no record of Kim Gab-dong refusing the test, and even if he did, taking the test is mandatory, so refusing it would actually make him guilty of non-compliance.”

However,

“The part where the police officer entered after being told to ‘come back later’ is the problem.”

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, forcibly entering a private space to search for something is classified as a compulsory investigation that cannot be done without a warrant.

Of course, in urgent situations where a suspect who has committed a crime is being pursued, or if it’s judged that a crime is being committed on the scene, warrantless searches are sometimes allowed.

But in this case, the police officer was simply patrolling and visited Motel A after receiving a report of ‘a noisy sound’.

Naturally, he didn’t have a search warrant or any confirmation that a crime was being committed.

“In the end, this police officer’s search was unlawful.”

And any other evidence obtained through the process or as a result of the unlawful search is also considered illegally obtained evidence.

This is called the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ doctrine. Just as the fruit of a poisoned tree is also poisoned, any evidence obtained based on an unlawful investigation is tainted by that illegality and becomes unusable.

“So, at the very least, the evidence to prove drunk driving disappears. Kim Gab-dong is not guilty of the drunk driving charge.”

“It really was a Criminal Procedure question…”

“I told you I would participate.”

This probably wasn’t all. Jang Yong-hwan’s true intention in creating this case record was now clear.

This tower of evidence for guilt, which seemed so firmly built at first glance,

It was about shaking the evidentiary value of each building block to dismantle the premise that ‘Kim Gab-dong is guilty’.

“Han Seol, please find and organize all the precedents related to the illegality of seizure, search, and inspection. Lee Ha-ru, use ‘Effortless’ to summarize the pages I designate and check the results.”

“Got it.”

“Yes, sir.”

‘Now, let’s go turn the courtroom upside down.’