"Surrender oneself in a timely manner

Case introduction

On February 27, 2022, the Public Security Bureau of Hebi City received a tip-off from the Anti-Mafia Office of the Public Security Department of Henan Province that "Wang Mou and others in xx County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province are suspected of committing crimes". The Public Security Bureau of Hebi City transferred the tip-off to the Public Security Bureau of Jun County, Hebi City for verification.

On July 3, 2022, one of the suspects in this case, Wang Moumou, was captured by the police of Junxian County Public Security Bureau in his dormitory building while working in another place. Due to the fact that it was during the period of "COVID-19 prevention and control", the agent lawyer did not accept the commission of the suspect's family to intervene in this case as the defense lawyer for Wang Moumou until November 2022, when the case was first transferred to the Junxian County Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After accepting the commission, through meeting with the defendant himself and in combination with the evidence materials returned by the procuratorate twice for supplementary investigation, the criminal suspect Wang Moumou is mainly suspected of three cases of provoking trouble and one case of illegal mining. Although Wang Moumou himself has objections to some of the facts of the above-mentioned charges, in light of other evidence on file, it can be determined that he participated in the above-mentioned criminal acts. In the indictment of Junxian County Procuratorate, apart from the three mitigating circumstances of being recognized as an accessory, having the victim's forgiveness and pleading guilty and accepting punishment, there are no other mitigating circumstances.

On September 20, 2023, after the first pretrial conference of Junxian County People's Court, the agent lawyer met with the defendant Wang Moumou again. The purpose was to determine whether to apply for the exclusion of illegal evidence and whether to apply for the recusal of the case handler and other procedural matters of the trial. Just as the meeting was coming to an end, the defendant Wang Moumou suddenly stated to his attorney that he might have turned himself in. As he was in a state of confusion when he was first arrested, he did not report it to the police officers and lawyers handling the case. It was not until the case was about to go to court that he remembered this. The attorney then asked him to restate the process of his arrest. He said, "At that time, I received a call from the police, asking to see me under the pretext of checking the QR code for epidemic prevention. But before I could go downstairs, my work team leader ran down from upstairs and told me that someone claiming to be from the police had called to ask about my address and work situation. At that moment, I realized it was a call from the police." I knew it was the police who wanted me to surrender voluntarily, but I thought it was self-surrender."

After the meeting, after analysis, the attorney believed that if it could be confirmed that the defendant was aware that the police officer handling the case was looking for him and voluntarily surrendered before being captured, or although it was not his intention but was persuaded and accompanied by the team leader to surrender, according to the relevant judicial interpretations, such behavior should be recognized as self-surrender.

On September 25, 2023, the People's Court of Junxian County held its second pretrial conference. During the conference, the attorney representing Wang Moumou reported to the presiding judge and the procuratorate that Wang Moumou might have surrendered himself, and provided the basic information and contact details of the witness Qiao Mou. After communication with the attorney, the procuratorate agreed that witness Qiao could go to the Public Security Bureau of Junxian County within five days to verify the apprehension of the defendant Wang Moumou by supplementing the witness's testimony, thereby determining whether he had the circumstances of self-surrender. At that time, the witness Qiao was working in a remote area of Gansu Province, with inconvenient transportation to and from. Moreover, he was worried that going out to testify would have a negative impact on him, so he initially refused to go to the police station to testify. However, with the efforts of the attorney and the defendant's family, and after removing his mental burden, he was finally persuaded to be willing to testify. After arranging his work, on September 26th, he took a flight from Lanzhou to Zhengzhou. After resting in Zhengzhou for one night, we set off from Zhengzhou for the Public Security Bureau of Junxian County on the morning of September 27th. Then, the witness statement also confirmed that the defendant Wang Moumou, after learning in advance that the public security authorities were looking for him, accompanied by Qiao Mou, happened to encounter the police officers who came to arrest him at the entrance of the dormitory building, and was thus arrested. This is also sufficient to confirm that the defendant did indeed have the circumstances of self-surrender.

On October 16, 2023, the People's Court of Junxian County lawfully held a public trial for this case. As the indictment had already been transferred to the court before, the procuratorate did not directly state the circumstances of Wang Moumou's self-surrender in the indictment. Instead, when the attorney presented a cross-examination opinion on Qiao Mou's testimony and pointed out that the defendant had the circumstances of self-surrender, the prosecutor accepted the defense attorney's opinion of self-surrender on the spot. When making the sentencing recommendation, the original sentence range of more than three years was reduced to two to two and a half years. Eventually, the court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison for the crimes of provoking trouble and illegal mining, which were punished concurrently. From then on, the case was concluded.

Case Analysis

From the above case-handling process, the agent lawyer realized that details determine success or failure and also the ultimate outcome of each case. In the process of handling cases, one should not only be familiar with the legal provisions involved in the case, but also pay attention to the details of the case facts, especially the details that prove the defendant's innocence and lesser guilt. Only in this way can we better assist the parties involved and enable them to obtain a more ideal judgment result. At the same time, it can also better enhance the professional skills of lawyers handling cases, with the aim of providing more practical assistance to more clients.

Introduction to lawyers

Lawyer Zhang Shuaishuai, a member of the Communist Party of China, is a practicing lawyer at Jinyan Law Firm and graduated from the Law Department of Zhengzhou University.

I have participated in handling nearly a hundred litigation, arbitration and non-litigation legal service cases, including civil and commercial cases, criminal defense cases and administrative cases. In April 2021, the case of "Kong's Security Guarantee Obligation and Responsibility Dispute" handled by us was awarded as one of the "Top Ten Excellent Legal Aid Cases of the Sixth Session in Jiaozuo City".

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