For a crime involving a certain amount, reducing the amount involved means reducing the sentence

In criminal cases, a crime of amount is a type of crime that takes a specific amount as an element of the crime or a sentencing standard. The crime of organizing prostitution is a kind of crime of amount. According to Article 358, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China: Whoever organizes or forces others to engage in prostitution shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined. If the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have his property confiscated. According to relevant judicial interpretations, organizing prostitution and illegally profiting more than one million yuan is one of the standards for determining serious circumstances, and the offender will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment. Lawyer Chen Deguang from Jinyan Law Firm handled a case of organizing prostitution. The illegal gains charged by the procuratorate were over 8 million yuan, among which the criminal gains obtained through prostitution were over 4 million yuan. Under normal circumstances, the defendant would have been sentenced to at least ten years in prison. Through Lawyer Chen's persistent efforts, the defendant was eventually sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

Basic case details

In October 2017, the defendant Lu Mou, Liang Mou and Wang Mou jointly leased a large hotel in a certain county of Anhui Province and actually managed and operated the hotel. Due to the property rights dispute of the hotel, it would be better to hire an outsider to deal with the situation externally. Sun Mou, a man from Jiaozuo who was Liang Mou's good friend, hired Sun Mou as the general manager of the hotel and stayed there all day long. And be responsible for the planning and development of the hotel's overall business. The first floor of this grand hotel is a guesthouse (accommodation service), offering formal bathing services at a price of approximately 199 yuan. There is a starting income of 300 yuan for bath tickets, and in addition to accommodation and bathing, there are also consumption recharge cards starting at 500 yuan.

The original remaining staff provided services such as bathing, massage and accommodation to the outside during the actual operation. The massage technicians who made a living here offered different types of prostitution services during the period of providing massage services to customers. After learning about it from Sun, Lu, Liang and others tacitly approved it and then managed the technicians accordingly. Later, in order to enhance the hotel's operational efficiency and performance, with the consent of Lu, Liang, Sun and others went to Sun's "bath center" in Jiaozuo, his hometown in Henan Province, under the pretext of "inspection" for an experience. Subsequently, they also introduced a team of massage technicians organized by the defendant Gao to enter the grand hotel to engage in prostitution activities. The cooperation model between Lu Mou, Liang Mou and the massage technician team organized by the introduced Gao Mou is a comprehensive entrusted operation, and both parties have agreed on a share ratio. Whether they are the original or newly recruited technicians, during the period of providing massage services to customers, they offer various types of pornographic and prostitution services. The charging standards for different types of pornographic and prostitution services are not the same.

In November 2018, this grand hotel was punished by the public security bureau of a certain county for promoting and providing corresponding prostitution services and was required to rectify in accordance with the law. By the end of December 2019, it had ceased operations due to reasons such as the epidemic and disputes over house property rights. As Sun stayed at the hotel all day and claimed to be the general manager of the hotel, all the income of the hotel during its operation was collected through Sun's wechat and Alipay by scanning codes for payment. In August 2022, I was reported by others that during the administrative penalty imposed by a certain county public security bureau in November 2018, I had overlooked the crime of organizing and accommodating prostitution, which led to the case being exposed.

The public security bureau of a certain city in Anhui Province established a special task force to conduct a long-term investigation into the case and entrusted an accounting firm in Anhui to statistically analyze the transaction income of Sun's wechat and Alipay from October 2017 to December 2019, with a focus on the income of 299 to 999 yuan and over 1,000 yuan in Sun's wechat and Alipay. The procuratorate of a certain county in Anhui Province has filed charges against six defendants involved in the case, including Sun, who was defended by lawyer Chen, for organizing prostitution (there are a total of eight defendants in this case, Sun is the third defendant, and the last two are accused of assisting in organizing prostitution). According to the report of the accounting firm, the illegal gains involved in the case amount to 8,528,087.4 yuan. Among them, the criminal proceeds obtained through prostitution amounted to 4,284,639.78 yuan.

The course of the case handling

After reviewing the case file, Lawyer Chen defended Sun from aspects such as whether he was guilty of assisting in organizing prostitution or organizing prostitution, and whether he was the principal offender or an accessory. However, based on the specific circumstances of the case, he did not focus on which aspects but instead focused on the amount of the crime for the defense. As the crime of organizing prostitution is a type of amount-based crime, if the charge in this case that the criminal proceeds obtained from prostitution were over 4 million yuan can be established, it should be no problem to sentence Sun to more than ten years in prison (the initial sentencing recommendation of the procuratorate for Sun was 11 years). For a crime involving a certain amount, reducing the amount is equivalent to reducing the sentence. Lawyer Chen thoroughly studied the report issued by the accounting firm and also gained a detailed understanding through Sun Mou, fully grasping the case. Besides other defense opinions from other aspects, he put forward the following defense opinions regarding the amount of crime charged by the procuratorate:

The amount of crime charged by the public prosecutor did not deduct the non-hotel income, let alone the legal income of the hotel. This is a serious mistake and cannot be accepted at all.

2. The proceeds of crime charged by the public prosecutor include the portion subject to administrative penalties, which should have been deducted but were not, which is a serious mistake.

3. It is also incorrect that the proceeds of crime charged by the public prosecutor included the portion of the share of the woman who lost her virginity, which should have been deducted but was not.

In order to increase the possibility that the court will adopt the above defense opinions, the other seven co-defendants in the case will also face the problem of inaccurate amounts of crime charged. Lawyer Chen then contacted the lawyers of the other four defendants he could reach and exchanged the above defense opinions with them. Many lawyers also put forward similar defense opinions during the trial.

Case Analysis

After efforts, the procuratorate changed the sentencing recommendation. Eventually, the court ruled that the amount of the crime charged by the procuratorate was unclear in facts and insufficient in evidence, and this court does not support it. The sentencing recommendation of the public prosecutor is appropriate and is adopted by this court. Sun was sentenced to five years and three months in prison and fined 50,000 RMB.

From the process of handling this case, there are still some experiences that can be summarized: First, for some cases, based on the specific circumstances of the case, there must be a key point in the defense strategy. One cannot cover all aspects. It is necessary to identify the weakest link of the other party and do thorough research, taking it as a breakthrough point to make a breakthrough. Secondly, in gang joint crimes, based on the case details, a united front should be formed, and all available forces should be united as much as possible to confront the other side in order to achieve victory.

Introduction to lawyers

Lawyer Chen Deguang is a senior practicing lawyer at Jinyan Law Firm. With a solid theoretical foundation in law and long-term judicial practice experience, he/she has a stable, efficient, meticulous and rigorous case-handling style, and has accumulated rich case-handling experience and skills, which have been highly praised by clients. Motto: "Pursue the maximization of the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved."

Proficient in criminal cases, commercial and economic cases, non-litigation legal services, real estate, and corporate affairs.

Contact Information

Telephone: 13803919916

Email: Cdg668@163.com