On October 25, 2024, King&Capital Law Firm, Criminal Department, “Criminal Case Thinking and Argumentation” seminar series was successfully held, the theme of this seminar is “Prosecution, Defense and Trial Interaction of the Principles and Methods of Proof”.
This activity was conducted by Mr. Shang Hua, a part-time lawyer of King&Capital Law Firm, and moderated by Mr. Chen Sainan. Mr. Shang Hua not only has in-depth research in academic field and rich research results, but also has accumulated a lot of practical experience in practice. This training aims to improve the lawyer's ability to use and examine the evidence in criminal cases, the activity is divided into two parts, the first part of the lawyer Shang Hua from the theory of examination to the combination of the actual handling of the case, to share the lawyer in the part of the examination of the effective methods and should pay attention to the matters; the second part of the guests and participants on the content of the lawyer Shang Hua shared, combined with their valuable experience and insights in the criminal defense for discussion. In the second part, the guests and participants discussed the content shared by Mr. Shang Hua, combined with their valuable experience and insights in criminal defense.
The event was opened by the moderator, Mr. Chen Sai-Nan, who welcomed the attorneys and briefly introduced the professional background and achievements of Mr. Shang Hua.
Mr. Shang Hua gave an in-depth explanation on the key techniques of cross-examination in criminal cases. He first clarified the dual role of cross-examination: one is to verify the authenticity of the evidence, and the other is to reveal the contradictions and unreliability of the evidence through questioning. He emphasized that cross-examination is not only part of the legal process, but also a bridge connecting evidence and facts. According to him, “cross-examination is the legal engine for discovering the truth, and it is an essential skill for defense lawyers.”
In cross-examination, it is necessary to understand and analyze “where the evidence comes from” and “where it goes”. The core of cross-examination lies in questioning the source of evidence, the collection process, and the logical relationship between the evidence and the facts, so as to question the lack of evidence as the qualification of the case. Combined with specific cases, Mr. Shang Hua demonstrated how to effectively use cross-examination techniques to protect the defendant's legal rights and interests, and the importance of allowing the judge to create reasonable doubt in a criminal case. He pointed out that lawyers should avoid confrontation with the judge during cross-examination, and instead improve the quality of the defense through the effectiveness of their professional skills and communication.
For cross-examination, confrontation, induced interrogation rules and other cross-examination issues. By giving examples of the limitations of induced questioning and confrontation, Mr. Shang Hua summarized the commonly used methods of questioning in fact finding, such as the method of contradiction analysis, and how to achieve the defense effect by discovering the inherent contradiction in the evidence. Combined with specific types of evidence, Mr. Shang Hua explained how to effectively carry out the confrontation of physical evidence, documentary evidence and witness testimony in practice, and also shared the content and methods of confrontation of scientific evidence such as appraisal opinions. He combined with the cases he handled, made clear the content of different types of evidence, and explained how to apply the method of questioning for the specific characteristics of the evidence.
Subsequently, Mr. Shang Hua shared how to question the accuracy of the witness's perception and memory through cross-examination or making written comments, as well as how to introduce circumstantial evidence to question the witness's defect of competence, how to utilize the Interpretation of the Criminal Prosecution Law, Article 88, paragraph 2 of the cross-examination of witnesses' testimonies, and so on. He suggested that lawyers should utilize questioning to reveal contradictions in witness testimony, especially the credibility of witnesses and the accuracy of their perceptions and memories. He demonstrated through cases how to challenge witness statements through details, such as the relative spatial location of the witness in relation to the event, the external environment, and so on.
Mr. Shanghua also mentioned the importance of the confrontation session, i.e., when there are contradictions in the statements of co-defendants or witnesses on the same facts, the confrontation session can be used to distinguish between right and wrong. In addition, he emphasized the importance of making challenges, including challenges to physical evidence, documentary evidence and expert opinions, as well as how to attack the witness's honest character and the existence of an interest through challenges.
In the practice of cross-examination, Mr. Shanghua put forward the principle of “justification, evidence and questioning”, emphasizing that cross-examination must be based on clear reasons and grounds, and asking specific questions about the evidence. In the defense practice, should avoid questioning link “doubt without reason”, “doubt without evidence”, “doubt without question” and other phenomena, and combines with examples about how to achieve With examples of how to do “have reason, have evidence, have asked”. He suggested that lawyers make good use of the case file to find favorable evidence, favorable parts of the evidence, and favorable explanations of the evidence. They should fully understand the outline of the evidence and communicate effectively with the prosecutor and judge to ensure the effectiveness and relevance of the cross-examination. Mr. Shang especially emphasized: not only is the questioning of individual evidence, but also need to have a systematic thinking, to accurately grasp the case of the “defense”, and will be fully integrated with the “defense” of the questioning.
Finally, Mr. Shang Hua discusses the combination of cross-examination and multi-disciplinary knowledge, such as the application of logic, psychology, linguistics and forensic methods in cross-examination, in order to improve the depth and breadth of cross-examination. Among other things, he highlighted the role of expert assistants in cross-examination and the importance of making good use of multidisciplinary knowledge in cross-examination.
Through this seminar, Mr. Shang Hua provided lawyers with a complete toolkit for cross-examination, from theory to practice, and from single evidence to overall strategy, providing valuable guidance for criminal defense lawyers when facing complex cases.
After the first part, the moderator, Mr. Chen Sainan, thanked Mr. Shang Hua for his wonderful sharing and invited the attorneys attending the seminar to have more exchanges and discussions on the issue of cross-examination. Subsequently, lawyers Zang Desheng, Niu Xingli, Chen Fei, Peng Jiyue, Fu Qingtao, Sun Towel Li, Liu Ling, Xiang Gujing, and Qi Xiaoling actively participated in the discussion and shared their practical experience in criminal defense. These discussions not only covered specific technical issues of cross-examination, such as cross-examination, questioning the credibility of witnesses, and the rules of induced interrogation, but also explored how to reveal the unreliability of evidence through cross-examination and how to utilize expert assistants to enhance the effectiveness of the defense. The atmosphere of the whole event was warm, and the participants expressed that they had benefited a lot, and had a deeper understanding and awareness of how to improve their skills in criminal defense.
At the end of the activity, the host, Mr. Chen Sai-Nan, expects the lawyers to pay attention to the “Criminal Defense Talk” activity of the Criminal Department, actively participate in the activity, share their experience, and exchange ideas, so as to practice the promise of “pursuing excellence and living up to the trust”.
Follow-up activities:
The series of activities of “criminal defense” is a column specially set up by the Criminal Department of King&Capital Law Firm to strengthen internal communication, improve the practical ability of lawyers in criminal defense, and enhance the influence of the firm's criminal defense brand. The column aims to promote the King&Capital head office and branch offices, the firm and outside the counterparts, experts and scholars, the exchange and cooperation between the departments within the firm. The “Criminal Defense Talk” activity will be held once a month, and the next activity will continue to invite professionals to s
