Chapter 142 – Public Trials (1)
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots hit my eardrums from behind the firing headset.
Filled with the smell of gunpowder, this was a tactical training ground owned by the Association.
Members of the special unit, including me, had been training for a long time.
It was a very practical training, including not only shooting, but also indoor search and suppression.
Lee Seo-woo, who had been running around with a submachine gun for the first time in a while, admired the skill of Kim Jeong-tae and his crew.
“Everyone seems very familiar. Wait a minute, is it okay to do door breaching like that?”
“Because there aren’t many wooden buildings in Korea.”
Lee Seo-woo is horrified to see the crew attaching a small bomb to the locked door.
After all, it’s a special product, so it’s made so that the explosion is completely focused inward.
The crew took Lee Seo-woo, who was playing, and let him try it himself.
“Now, just attach it to the door and press it.”
“Where did you all learn this?”
“Because we used to do this.”
“Wait, Seo Woo isn’t that way… “
“Ah.”
“?”
A member of the crew who lashes out after being stopped by a colleague.
Lee Seo-woo was puzzled when he saw them like that.
Apparently, Lee Seo-woo made a mistake because he was too accustomed to it.
I decided to end my training and go back to the office.
“Thanks to Blanche, I have time to train.”
“Really? Did you notice that your sister wanted to go camping sometime?”
“Camping? Well… Not bad.”
When I replied to Alice, Tia freaked out a bit.
“Eh, why do you go out to sleep in a comfortable and comfortable house? Do you really need to do that? I know that mankind has evolved to secure a good living environment for thousands of years…”
“I don’t know. The main thing about camping is not lodging.”
“Yes?”
Tia’s face is confused by the resolute denial.
I immediately obtained his consent to her.
“The real fun of camping is eating delicious food outdoors.”
“Oh, oh! It was such a wonderful event… I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please take me with you too!”
While Tia was making a big fuss about her.
Seo Ji-yu, who did not participate in the training, ran from afar.
She wasn’t a police officer like Lee Seo-woo, so it was a bit awkward for her to have real combat training.
“Chief! I’ve received a strange notification…”
“A strange notice?”
“Yes. The prosecution’s ongoing trial is being switched to a public participation trial!”
“What?”
If this is a normal case that Hunter isn’t involved in, there’s no reason to notify us…
It seems that the prosecution was proceeding with the Hunter-related case.
In principle, they can’t deal with hunter-related cases, but they solve light cases to reduce the heavy workload of the special forces.
This is possible because the authority of the Special Forces is very strong and ambiguous.
“What exactly are you talking about?”
“The retired hunter murder case. A former hunter suffering from PTSD was killed by an active hunter.”
“Ah…”
Only then did I recall the outline of the incident.
Retired hunters deserve to enjoy the life of a hero, but unfortunately, not everyone is like that.
Some of them suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
The victim in this case was such a case.
The victim, Bae Hee-young, was once a hunter who was active on the front line, but…
In the last operation, I experienced a tragic accident in which all members of the team except myself died.
She was discharged immediately, but she suffered serious after-effects.
Due to constant hallucinations or auditory hallucinations, such as carrying a weapon or having seizures while screaming.
It was a very difficult time for herself as well as her colleagues and family.
In the meantime, a tragic incident happened…
It was to attack her person with the weapon she usually carried.
The one who was attacked was an active hunter, and he was on his way home from clearing the dungeon.
It seemed that panic symptoms had developed after she witnessed the hunter equipment the perpetrator was wearing.
The victim Bae Hee-young’s hunter ability was sealed thanks to Yeriel’s action, but…
She felt very menacing as she wielded a hunting knife in the middle of the road in broad daylight.
In the end, the assailant killed Bae Hee-young after a skirmish.
Since it was in the middle of the road, the video remained intact, so there was no doubt about the above situation.
“But the perpetrator admitted the crime without difficulty. Are you saying that it’s a public participation trial?”
“They said yes. What’s wrong?”
“A lot of problems.”
People’s Trial…
You can think of it as the Korean version of the jury system.
However, Korean juries cannot determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.
It is not that they themselves sentence the sentence.
Upon hearing my explanation, Seo Ji-yu asked with a slightly absurd face.
“Then why do you do that?”
“How democratic is it that the people directly participate in the trial?
However… Public participation trials are quite difficult to establish.
First of all, the defendant must want to convert to a participatory trial.
The accused, as a party to the trial, has the right to decide it.
If the accused does not want to, he can never have a public participation trial.
However, in this case, this step 1 passed without incident.
Apparently, the victim held a knife in the middle of the street, so there is no room for self-defense.
In other words, it was judged that the perpetrator would be able to win the sympathy of the jury.
And if you get the jury’s sympathy, of course, you’re more likely to get a lower sentence.
It is not a very bad choice from the perpetrator’s point of view.
The question is whether the court will allow the public participation in the trial.
The court has the right to dismiss a participatory trial for various reasons.
Whether it’s simply because citizens are worried that the verdict won’t be fair, or to protect the privacy of victims and bereaved families, etc…
You can dismiss it as much as you like.
“But the courts allowed it…”
“Is the public participation trial really that bad?”
“It’s definitely inconvenient from the point of view of the court. First of all, it takes a long time.”
The public trial is basically 10 hours.
The jury is chosen at random from the residents of the neighborhood…
It took me a year to explain the jury procedure and case to them one by one.
It is not very pleasant from the point of view of the court, which is already overloaded with work.
In addition, Hunter-related cases do not normally involve public participation in trials.
This is because the issue is so well made that there is a high possibility that the neutrality of the jurors will be damaged before it even starts.
However, to enforce a trial by public participation is…
“Is this the president of the association? I need to go find him.”
“Does the team leader not like participatory trials too much?”
“Of course. You saw the fake green dust case last time. Did the trial on the internet taxidermist’s site seem fair?”
“I can’t possibly do that.”
Of course, they cast their votes roughly, hiding behind the anonymity inherent in the Internet environment.
The jury system works much better than that.
Even so… The jury system is still unreliable.
In fact, when it comes to judges, they are the highest level elite in Korea.
It is only after the most well-educated people in the country study for several more years and gain legal experience before making a ruling.
And even so, misjudgments or unfair judgments often occur.
But what about ordinary citizens forced to gather together?
I thought it was fortunate that the jurors weren’t making their own decisions.
I went up the elevator with Seo Ji-yu and went straight into the president’s office.
“Chairman, do you think I’m too comfortable lately?”
“Hmm? G-Why are you suddenly like this? Could it be because of the public participation in the trial?”
“What are you pretending not to know when you know it well?”
“No, it’s already been handed over to the prosecution, so why are you?”
“They gave us a notice as well. Why are Hunter-related cases being held as public participation trials all of a sudden?”
When I asked what I was most curious about, the president of the association pointed upward without saying a word.
It means it’s because of his upper… Political circle his.
“They said that the number of trial cases involving the people this year was too low… They decided that it was the right time to introduce a trial involving the people in the Hunter case.”
“There must be a reason for the lack of cases.
“But isn’t this democracy? It’s a bit difficult to get rid of this system blindly… If you get rid of the system once, you may not be able to come back.”
I was satisfied with the unexpectedly correct answer.
Apparently, the president of the association did not give permission without thinking.
“Okay. Instead, we join.”
“What? The prosecutor’s office would hate it?”
“When did they ever like us? They’d hate me if I could just breathe. Anyway, if you’ve decided to do it, do it right.”
Of course, I have no intention of taking on troublesome things.
I just plan on monitoring whether the prosecution is doing it right.
The head of the association secretly examined Seo Ji-yu’s eyes and confessed his impressions of him.
“It’s not just the special units that the prosecution hates. The association keeps arrogantly arguing that it’s sanctioning private individuals according to the association law.”
“Then you guys should do it right…”
“That’s right. Anyway, I’ll tell the prosecution.”
“All right.”
We parted with a handshake in a warm atmosphere after a long time.
Seo Ji-yoo, who had quickly packed her materials, headed to the courthouse with me.
