You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 21

Kang Min-jae put down his coffee cup and hurried out of the veranda.

I stubbed out my cigarette and moved quickly as well.

“He said he has a lot of all-nighters, so there’s probably staff in the editing room right now.”

“It’ll take a long time to find that video, right? You’ll have to search through all the footage from that day.”

We arrived at the broadcasting station without a plan and contacted the assistant director to go up to the editing room.

Inside the editing room, filled with stacks of cup noodles and coffee cans, sat the haggard-looking assistant director and editor.

“What brings you here so early?”

“I know you’re busy, but I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“When you were filming Kim Cheol-hwan and Yeo Hee-sook’s episode, did the director say harsh things to the assistant director?”

The assistant director looked at me, puzzled.

Then, he chuckled as if wondering why I was asking something so obvious.

“That’s how all broadcasting stations are.”

“So, you mean he was like that on set that day too?”

“Of course.”

“Do you remember what time that was?”

“What, are you asking if he was swearing all the time? Then it was continuous.”

“Not that, I mean like the day I first came to ask you about things. I mean, was he unilaterally like that that day?”

The editor still looked bewildered, while the assistant director seemed to be thinking hard.

It seemed like such incidents were not uncommon, as he said.

“Yes, he was. Every time he cut it off, Yeo Hee-sook tried to check it. So he called me and told me to stop letting her get away with it.”

“Do you remember when that was?”

“Of course not. I just remember it was at night.”

“Then please let me check all the cameras that were set up at night.”

“Huh? All of them?”

“It’s essential for the trial.”

“You mean the unedited version? All the footage?”

“Yes.”

“It’ll take you hours to check.”

“That’s fine.”

The editor briefly showed us how to pause, rewind, and fast forward the video.

Kang Min-jae and I sat in the corner of the editing room and started looking for scenes where the director was harsh to the assistant director, dividing the sections in half.

As time passed, employees started coming to the broadcasting station one by one, peering through the window at us sitting in the editing room in suits as they passed by.

“Lawyer. 9:48. 9:48. The director is pushing the assistant director’s head and shoulders?”

The assistant director, who was listening from behind, turned around to look at us, seemingly displeased.

I gestured to Kang Min-jae to be quiet.

“Please show me the footage from the cameras installed in the master bedroom and living room from 9:48.”

It was already 8:30 AM.

Since the trial started at 10:00 AM, we had to leave in 30 minutes.

With a sense of urgency, I checked the video that the assistant director was playing and quietly pressed the pause button.

“Here it is.”

In the video, Yeo Hee-sook was trembling at the director’s abusive shouts.

She looked around anxiously and ran into the master bedroom as if fleeing.

Then, she went to the bookshelf and searched between the books.

She took out something like a large encyclopedia and opened it.

The thick inner pages of the book were hollowed out enough to fit a camera, and the camera came out from inside.

There was a small hole just barely showing the lens towards the spine of the book.

I could feel how much she had struggled to hide that camera.

“No wonder they couldn’t find it. Wow…….”

Yeo Hee-sook turned on the camera and put it back in the book.

Then she left the master bedroom.

In the camera footage installed in the hallway, she came out of the master bedroom and suddenly stopped, as if realizing something, and leaned against the wall.

She sighed deeply and shook her head.

She put her hand on her chest and took a few deep breaths.

Then she went back into the master bedroom, searched the bookshelf, and turned off the camera.

“I’ve seen the video well.”

“Ah, yes. Did you find what you wanted?”

“Yes. It was a great help. Thank you.”

“Oh, I’m glad.”

As I was about to leave the editing room, packing my things, I paused and added.

“If someone says harsh things in front of others, it constitutes insult, and depending on the content included in the conversation, it can even be considered defamation [damage to someone’s reputation]. If there is a guilty verdict in criminal court, you can file a civil suit for monetary compensation. If you need help, call the contact number on the business card I gave you before.”

“Ah, what are you doing! Hurry up!”

Kang Min-jae pulled me.

The assistant director looked at me with a bewildered expression, and I left him behind and ran across the hallway with Kang Min-jae.

“Go to the crime scene and get the camera. Check if the scene from the time of the incident is recorded on the camera, and if there are scenes of Kim Hyung-joon assaulting her for two months, save them. I’ll stall during the trial.”

“Okay.”

“Text me when you find the video, and call me as soon as you arrive at the court with the edited version for evidence submission. Prepare a written statement of the evidence acquisition path. Oh, do you know how to edit videos?”

“I have someone who can help. But can you keep stalling for time?”

“I’m good at trials.”

I was about to add, ‘How many trials have I been in for the past 15 years?’ but I closed my mouth.

Because as of 2008, my career was only 5 years.

“Yeah, well… it’s a bit annoying when you say that yourself?”

Kang Min-jae laughed and handed me his car keys.

“Take this car. I’ll take a taxi.”

With that, Kang Min-jae and I parted ways, and at exactly 11:31 AM, Kang Min-jae handed me the USB containing the video.

And now it’s 12:23 PM.

“It’s fabricated! It’s all fabricated!”

Kim Hyung-joon shouted, breaking the silence.

He jumped up from the audience and tried to push through the entrance as if to run towards me.

The court officer blocked him.

I looked at him and continued.

“Based on the evidence you have seen so far, we argue for the defendant’s innocence. We will submit the evidence acquisition path in writing.”

As I handed the prepared documents to the court clerk, the judge shared the documents with the associate judges.

“Prosecutor. Evidence has emerged proving the defendant’s innocence. Will you continue the trial?”

After deliberation, Judge Go Il-guk asked Prosecutor Yang.

Prosecutor Yang closed his mouth with a troubled expression.

He glanced at Hwang Young-chan, who was sitting at the end of the audience.

Hwang Young-chan got up nervously and left the courtroom.

“…Your Honor, I will withdraw the indictment against the defendant Kim Yeon-joon.”

“By the authority of the court, I order the immediate detention of Kim Hyung-joon.”

With Judge Go Il-guk’s words, the court officers rushed to Kim Hyung-joon and arrested him.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

Kim Hyung-joon resisted fiercely, but under the control of the officers, he was handcuffed and dragged out of the courtroom.

The courtroom, swept away by the commotion, felt like ruins.

“Defendant’s side, do you have anything to say?”

I looked at Kim Yeon-joon.

He bit his lip with a tearful face.

I approached him and said softly.

“Kim Yeon-joon, say everything you want to say.”

He looked at me as if asking if he really could.

His two hands, bound by the rope, were trembling.

I met his eyes and nodded heavily once.

“…I.”

Kim Yeon-joon barely opened his mouth.

“I didn’t kill my parents. Sob, sob, sob.”

Kim Yeon-joon began to cry sadly after saying those words.

I looked at him with pity.

I could feel how difficult the countless misunderstandings he had endured had been.

“While preparing the defense for the defendant Kim Yeon-joon, I was shocked by the prosecution’s sloppy investigation. According to Dr. Yoon Tae-young, a neuropsychiatrist who was in charge of Yeo Hee-sook, he said that he had never been contacted by the prosecution even once. Even if it was an uninsured treatment, this is proof that the prosecution did not even conduct a basic investigation properly. Also, the fact that Kim Hyung-joon had taken out numerous life insurance policies in the name of the victim couple proves that the prosecution’s investigation was inadequate.”

Prosecutor Yang could not lift his head, which was deeply bowed.

It’s a natural reaction if he’s human.

“With just one fingerprint and the appearance at the time of the police dispatch, the prosecution singled out the defendant as a suspect and did not consider other possibilities. They left a heartless murderer running rampant in society, and an innocent young man was branded as a murderer and may have ruined his life.”

When the prosecution received the case and a suspect was arrested with fingerprints, they immediately informed the media.

They did not properly investigate whether there were other suspects, nor did they place an embargo [official ban on commercial activity with a particular country].

It was natural that public opinion, upon hearing this, would lean towards the suspect.

And the prosecution was dragged along by public opinion, which was created by their carelessness and heroic spirit.

It was a pathetic thing to do.

The Criminal Division, which had once been praised by public opinion for the , could not forget the taste and made a foolish mistake.

“I hope that no more innocent people will be sacrificed by the prosecution’s sloppy investigation, and I will conclude my argument.”

* * *

The courthouse was crowded with reporters.

Numerous reporters blocked the path of Kang Min-jae and me as we left the courthouse, holding out microphones and cameras.

“Attorney Cha Joo-han, please say a word about the trial!”

“Did you believe in Kim Yeon-joon’s innocence from the beginning?”

“Was it intentional that the first case you took after resigning was a direct confrontation with your former office?”

They were blocking so tightly that it was difficult to take even one step.

It seemed they wouldn’t back down unless I said something.

“I believed in his innocence from the beginning, and it was not intentional to target the Criminal Division 3 assignment. It’s a coincidence.”

Coincidence.

One of the words that the media never believes.

It wasn’t intentional to target Criminal Division 3, but it didn’t matter if they thought so.

I know how difficult the path is for a lawyer who is openly disliked by the prosecution, but even so, I wasn’t afraid.

Haven’t I been disliked by the chaebols [large industrial conglomerates] who control Korea and come back to life?

“Stop it now and get out of the way!”

Kang Min-jae shouted, pushing the reporters away.

In the brief gap, he and I safely arrived at the courthouse parking lot, breaking through the reporters.

“Lawyer.”

“What.”

“How about a drink tonight to celebrate the victory? Call?”

I reluctantly replied to Kang Min-jae, who was gesturing to drink.

“Call.”