You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 18

You Have Been Defended – Episode 18

“My parents provided a lot of financial support for my business. When they even considered selling the house in Dogok-dong [a wealthy neighborhood in Seoul], I started yelling at my brother, asking if he was going to hand everything over to him… I made a scene, asking if they weren’t going to leave anything for me.”

Was he trying to get ahead of things?

It seemed he had received the report that Kang Min-jae had visited the factory.

The report on the financial difficulties of Lyline Fashion Factory, which had been included in the list of evidence, instantly became useless.

“When Yeon-joon said he wanted to live on his own, my parents were against him moving far from home. But Yeon-joon didn’t budge and went to live in a studio apartment… He often pressured my parents, asking why they were supporting my business but not his living expenses… Even though they gave him a million won [approximately $750 USD] a month for allowance, he sometimes yelled at them for more.”

“Is that what you consider the motive for the murder?”

“Yes.”

“How often and to what extent did the defendant commit assault?”

“Since Yeon-joon lived separately, he came home about once a week. The intervals gradually became longer, but anyway, he assaulted our parents every time he came home.”

“Ah, I see. Your Honor, I request Kim Hee-ja, the reporter at the time of the incident and the defendant’s next-door neighbor, to be called as a witness.”

At the prosecutor’s words, Kim Hyung-joon stepped down, and the neighbor woman I had met once for the investigation walked to the witness stand.

“Witness, you reported to the police at the time of the incident, correct?”

“……Yes, yes.”

“How did you know what was happening next door and report it?”

As she had told me, she testified in detail about the situation that day and the disturbances in the neighboring house that she had heard through the walls.

“I see. You said that it wasn’t the first time you had heard noises from next door. Does that mean it was always like that?”

“Not really, just occasionally……”

“If so, do you remember when it was?”

“I can’t remember everything. Early March weekend, and February 15th, because it was my husband’s birthday…… Ah, I don’t remember the date, but the day Yoo In-jung slapped Seo Kang-hee in the weekend drama [referring to a specific scene in a popular Korean drama]. That day too.”

“Early March weekend would be the 1st or 2nd. And February 15th, the day that scene aired in the drama, was February 2nd. All of these were days when the defendant, who was living away from home, came to the Dogok-dong house.”

Yang Prosecutor gave a subtle smile and turned to the judge.

“Coincidentally, the days the neighbor heard the sounds of assault were all days when the defendant, who lived away from home, came home. She said it was quiet on days when the defendant was not home. This is consistent with the testimony of witness Kim Hyung-joon that the defendant committed assault whenever he came home. That is all.”

Yang Prosecutor looked at me with an arrogant expression.

“Any cross-examination?”

“Yes.”

I approached Kim Hee-ja.

She seemed to have a bit of resentment left because I had ignored her offer to introduce me to her daughter.

Her expression quickly turned sulky.

“Witness, you said you heard sounds of assault, shouting, and groaning from the neighboring house.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who was shouting?”

“I don’t know that.”

“You have heard both Kim Hyung-joon’s and the defendant’s voices now. Can you still not distinguish them?”

“No. I’m not sure. Young men shouting all sound the same……”

“That is all. I will cross-examine witness Kim Hyung-joon.”

Kim Hyung-joon was called back to the witness stand.

His hands, gripping the podium tightly, were trembling.

It was the anger he couldn’t express to me.

Perhaps it was only visible to me.

“Witness, you testified that the defendant committed assault every time he came home.”

“Yes.”

“Witness Kim Hee-ja heard shouting, and she couldn’t determine whether the subject was the defendant or another person who was in the house. Is that correct?”

“……So?”

“Let’s assume that someone else in the house was the culprit. Ah, of course, this is just an assumption.”

Kim Hyung-joon’s face contorted greatly at my words.

He knew that I was assuming he was the culprit.

“The other person set up a thorough plan to shift the blame onto the defendant. And that person deliberately committed assault only on the days the defendant visited.”

“Objection! Your Honor! The defense is causing confusion in the trial with unproven facts.”

Yang Prosecutor jumped up and shouted.

“The testimonies are ambiguous, leaving room for other interpretations. I am trying to confirm that part with the witness.”

“……Continue for now.”

Judge Go Il-guk looked uneasy but didn’t interrupt me.

“The defendant stated that Kim Hyung-joon started fights with his parents whenever he went home. He also said that the reason the frequency of his visits was decreasing was because his brother assaulted them whenever he went, so he thought it would be better if he didn’t go.”

The judge seemed to be searching for Kim Yeon-joon’s statement, moving his hands busily.

The associate judge handed him a document, pointing out a passage.

Judge Go Il-guk checked that part and nodded.

“That’s Yeon-joon’s one-sided claim!”

“However, it is also the witness’s one-sided claim that the defendant assaulted the victim couple every time he came home. No one witnessed it, and witness Kim Hee-ja said she didn’t know whose voice it was, the defendant’s or the witness’s, did she?”

“Kim Yeon-joon is a guy who committed murder and was caught red-handed! Are you suspecting an innocent person now?”

“No. I am asking what you think about this situation, which can be interpreted differently, along with the defendant’s statement.”

“……That’s nonsense.”

Kim Hyung-joon replied as if he was dumbfounded.

Even in the same situation, different perspectives can lead to different meanings.

The proposition that Kim Yeon-joon committed assault every time he visited home, and the house was quiet on days when Kim Yeon-joon was not there, so Kim Yeon-joon is the culprit, can be reversed like this.

Initially, Kim Yeon-joon stated that Kim Hyung-joon seemed to get heated up and commit assault impulsively whenever he saw him.

But now that a planned crime is certain, that was also an act according to the plan.

“Then, witness, I will ask the next question. You said that the defendant’s parents mainly favored him regarding property. Answer only with yes or no.”

“No, also with trivial things,”

“Answer only with yes or no.”

“……Yes.”

“Please look at the screen. These are the defendant’s student loan records and savings records.”

Kim Hyung-joon looked bewildered as the bankbook copies and loan records appeared on the screen.

“What about them?”

“The defendant saved all the university tuition fees given by his parents, who raised him, because he didn’t want to cause trouble to them. And he took out student loans to cover the tuition fees. Furthermore, he didn’t use the 1 million won that his parents gave him every month and earned living expenses by working part-time.”

While preparing those materials, I felt like I understood why the landlord initially said to me, ‘Yeon-joon wouldn’t do that.’

Even though the couple raised him like their own son, Kim Yeon-joon always thought he was causing trouble.

While feeling grateful, he always vowed to repay the favor someday.

“I can’t believe that such a defendant coveted his parents’ property. Witness, do you believe it?”

“……I can’t know everything about Yeon-joon’s inner thoughts.”

“I see. I suddenly wonder what kind of evaluation Kim Yeon-joon usually received from the people around him, and how he spent his money.”

After Kim Hyung-joon returned to his seat, a new witness stood at the witness stand.

“Witness, please introduce yourself.”

“I am Lee Young-ho, running a self-employment and real estate rental business.”

“What is your relationship with the defendant?”

“I have known Yeon-joon since he was in the orphanage. I used to volunteer there regularly. After Yeon-joon was adopted, we kept in touch, and until recently, Yeon-joon worked part-time at the store I run.”

Lee Young-ho, who said it was his first trial, continued to speak more calmly than expected.

“I see. What did you usually think about the defendant?”

“He is a kind child who knows how to be grateful in everything. Despite his parents being wealthy, Yeon-joon tried not to receive support from his parents. He said he didn’t want to cause trouble.”

“I see. Then, was Kim Yeon-joon very greedy about property? It doesn’t have to be property. Tell us about Kim Yeon-joon’s attitude towards money, as you know it.”

Lee Young-ho seemed to take a breath and think carefully.

How Kim Yeon-joon appeared in his eyes, and what his usual behavior was like.

“Yeon-joon was a child who didn’t have much greed for money.”

Lee Young-ho calmly continued to explain about Kim Yeon-joon.

When asked about his future hopes, he said he wanted to do a job that he could enjoy even if he couldn’t make a lot of money, or he lent money to a part-time worker he worked with and forgot about it.

Small anecdotes followed.

“……Ah! Also, once he even asked me if he could give all the inheritance to his brother without inheriting it when his parents passed away.”

“Witness. You will be punished for perjury if you commit perjury in court. Is that true?”

“It’s true. There is not a single lie! He said he was grateful just for being raised, and he would feel too sorry if he received a huge inheritance. He said that if it weren’t for him, his brother would receive everything, and he felt like a nuisance.”

Lee Young-ho jumped up and said.

Kim Yeon-joon was shedding tears as he listened to the evaluations he had made about himself.

His self-esteem must have been greatly lowered in a situation where even his relatives were branding him as a parricidal murderer.

Lee Young-ho looked at the sobbing Kim Yeon-joon with pity.

“That is all.”

“Prosecution, any cross-examination?”

“No. I will examine the next witness.”

Kim Yeon-joon’s relatives, who were sitting in the audience, murmured for a moment, and the courtroom door opened, and a middle-aged woman appeared.

It was Kim Yeon-joon’s aunt.

Since all the relatives had reportedly spoken ill of Kim Yeon-joon during the prosecution’s investigation, the words that would come out of her mouth were obvious.

“That Yeon-joon guy, I don’t know how much he complained about his parents favoring him. So he shouted at his parents and yelled at them.”

“Have you seen it?”

“When I saw them during the holidays, if Hyung-joon liked a side dish, Hee-sook would take care of it and push it in front of Hyung-joon. Then Yeon-joon’s expression would harden. He thought they were only taking care of Hyung-joon. He couldn’t stand that sight and went home, saying he would go first, even though all the relatives were there. That’s what he did.”

“If you have any other anecdotes?”

“I don’t know any anecdotes, but since all the parents’ money went to his brother, he must have hated seeing his brother. If Hyung-joon even spoke to him, his face would harden, and he wouldn’t even answer. Anyone could see that he was jealous of Hyung-joon.”

“I see. The defendant that witness Lee Young-ho is talking about and the defendant that the relatives are talking about are quite different. That is all.”

Yang Prosecutor sent a subtle look towards me and returned to his seat.

He seemed desperate to beat me.

Well, maybe that’s not just Yang Prosecutor’s wish.

Because Hwang Young-chan was also smiling in the audience.

I didn’t care and headed to the witness stand.

“Witness. You said that the defendant yelled at his parents, saying they were favoring him, but have you ever seen it directly?”

“……No, well. I haven’t seen it directly.”

“Then why are you so sure?”

“Because Hyung-joon had consulted with the adults about that issue.”

“Ah, so you believed Kim Hyung-joon’s one-sided claim?”

“No, that is,”

“All the relatives testified that Kim Yeon-joon was usually disrespectful to the victim couple, but did you all think so after hearing Kim Hyung-joon’s words, not seeing it directly?”

“How often would we see it directly? We only see each other during the holidays and occasionally ask how we are doing. So, it’s true that we heard Hyung-joon’s words and thought so……. That’s because Yeon-joon was so obvious that Hyung-joon’s words were right, so we…….”

The aunt’s voice gradually faded.

It seemed that she herself was gradually questioning why she had such a bad image of Kim Yeon-joon.

“Then, Kim Hyung-joon often spoke ill of Kim Yeon-joon to the relatives. As if trying to instill such an image.”

“Your Honor! The defense is now leading the witness.”

Yang Prosecutor diligently tackled.

I admit it, leading the witness.

Even if I get sanctioned, there is a big difference between taking out this one word and not taking it out.

Because if there is someone who thought it was like that even for a moment, that word will continue to linger in that person’s head.

It’s framing.

“I admit it. Defense, be careful.”

“I’m sorry. I will ask the next question. Then, why did you believe Kim Hyung-joon’s words when you never saw the defendant being disrespectful to the couple directly?”

“No, if that wasn’t the case, why would Yeon-joon’s face freeze like that when they took care of him so much during the holidays?”

The witness shouted in an agitated voice, her face reddened.

It seems that it was not the parents but the relatives who favored the biological son and the adopted son.

They already had a negative opinion of Kim Yeon-joon, so they wanted to believe Kim Hyung-joon’s words when they heard them.

Judge Go Il-guk also frowned implicitly.

“What was the food that Yeo Hee-sook pushed in front of Kim Hyung-joon?”

“Buckwheat crepes. Hyung-joon likes buckwheat crepes very much.”

“Kim Yeon-joon is allergic to buckwheat. So I think his expression hardened, but why do you conclude that he showed such a reaction because of favoritism?”

“……That, that is.”

“You seem to know what Kim Hyung-joon likes to eat, but you didn’t know that the defendant is allergic to buckwheat. Weren’t you favoring him? So, do you think the defendant would feel that way?”

The relative’s statement lost credibility.

Above all, she, who meets them occasionally but knows what Kim Hyung-joon likes to eat, was already in an unobjective situation.

Until now, the image of Kim Yeon-joon as a ‘parricidal murderer’ has been strengthened by the relatives’ statements that he was ‘originally such a guy.’

However, the statements of the majority of relatives are merely listening to Kim Hyung-joon’s one-sided claims and believing those words.

So now that statement has become Kim Hyung-joon’s alone, and as Lee Young-ho’s statement that he was an upright young man has newly emerged, the two images conflict.

It was a sufficient gain.

“Next, witness Choi Hyun-sook. Please come forward.”

At that moment, the relatives who were murmuring in the audience became quiet.

Choi Hyun-sook is Yeo Hee-sook’s mother.

I had applied for the maternal grandmother to be a witness, but I had not received a definite answer from her.

Above all, now that Kim Hyung-joon has revealed that there was a problem with his business, I was not sure whether the testimony that Kim Hyung-joon borrowed money from his maternal grandmother would be valid.

The louder the judge’s voice calling for her, the more I lost my composure.

“Witness Choi Hyun-sook? Has she not appeared?”

“…….”

“Witness Choi Hyun-sook.”

The maternal grandmother was not in the audience.

“Has she not appeared?”