Zhang Qingyuan was the first to lose his patience and ask. Song Tiancheng and Li Weiguo also looked at Qin Mu, clearly thinking he was rely trying to console the bridesmaid.
Qin Mu glanced at Zhang Qingyuan and the others. Just as he was about to answer, he saw the groom’s father, after consulting with the families of the four n, walk into the courtyard. He happened to overhear their conversation.
He snorted. "How can she not go to jail? Who is this person? What does this greenhorn know? A life for a life, it’s only right." While saying this, he casually glanced at Qin Mu. He didn’t believe a single word of Qin Mu’s earlier assertion that the bridesmaid wouldn’t go to jail.
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but sigh heavily, his face filled with distress. "Now it’s ruined; a joyous occasion has suddenly turned into a somber one. Just now, I went to ask their families. They said either she goes to jail or pays with her life..."
He had just been to the front courtyard, where the families of the four n were still blocking the entrance. When they saw him, they almost beat him up. He pleaded as earnestly as he could, but the other party refused to settle privately.
Chen Zishi, upon hearing this, swallowed and pointed at Qin Mu. "Dad, this... this is Uncle Qin. You should call him ’Uncle’ too."
"Uncle... Qin?" The middle-aged man’s eyes widened as he sized up Qin Mu, an incredulous expression on his face. This seniority... It suddenly seed all mixed up.
Qin Mu glanced at Chen Zishi’s father, not taking his earlier remarks too seriously. "COUGH, COUGH. It’s like this: this case... is quite special. It might involve justifiable self-defense," he began to explain. "Although the bridesmaid killed soone and injured three others, the circumstances are unique. If it can be determined to be justifiable self-defense, she won’t have to go to jail."
Afterwards, he elaborated on the definition of justifiable self-defense. "Article 20 of the Criminal Law specifically stipulates that actions taken to stop an ongoing unlawful infringent, in order to protect national or public interests, or the personal, property, or other rights of oneself or others from such infringent, are considered justifiable self-defense if they cause harm to the infringer, and thus bear no criminal responsibility. As long as it’s an act of resisting unlawful infringent, it qualifies as justifiable self-defense, and no criminal liability is incurred."
"Really?" Chen Zishi’s father couldn’t help but ask skeptically after listening.
Peng Songyue gave a wry smile. "I’ve heard of this, and it seems to be true, but... if soone is killed, can it still count as justifiable self-defense?" Many people had heard of justifiable self-defense; she had too. But this incident... it sounded more like excessive self-defense. It was rare to hear of soone being killed in what was deed justifiable self-defense. Moreover, their situation involved wedding pranks; whether the other party’s actions even constituted unlawful infringent was debatable.
"That definitely counts as unlawful infringent," Qin Mu said seriously after taking a deep breath. "Regardless of whether it’s considered part of wedding pranks or not, publicly tearing clothes and assaulting soone in that manner absolutely constitutes a criminal offense."
"This cri..." Qin Mu continued, "strictly speaking, involves exploiting and assaulting a woman against her will. It falls under the cri of indecent assault. And that’s not even considering it was a public, group assault."
"So, the main issue now is whether this case qualifies as justifiable self-defense." Qin Mu looked at the other bridesmaids around him as he continued. Many of their clothes were significantly torn, leaving them exposed, and they had all borrowed overcoats to wear.
"The conditions for justifiable self-defense are quite stringent; there are five. First, an actual unlawful infringent must be occurring. This is beyond doubt—we have witnesses and physical evidence, including the torn clothes. Second is the timing of the defensive action: the unlawful infringent must be actively in progress."
"This point is the most demanding. If the aggressor has stopped their unlawful act—if they’ve desisted—then it cannot be considered justifiable self-defense. For example, imagine you’re facing a violent robbery. The robber sees you have a knife and has a change of heart, deciding not to rob you anymore. Even if you have the knife, you cannot attack them at that point. If you were to, say, counter-attack and kill them when they’ve already stopped, especially if there’s a clear disparity in strength in your favor at that mont, it cannot be judged as justifiable self-defense."
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