On October 21, 2025, Mr. Feng Wang was invited to Central University for Nationalities to teach a practical course for undergraduate and graduate students, and the topic shared by Mr. Feng Wang was "The ‘Art’ and ‘Way’ of Marking Papers. ". The following is the text of the course content, used for self-examination to improve and communicate with criminal defense colleagues (click on the end of the article “read the original text” to get the PDF version).
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Hello, students! Today I share the theme of “marking the ‘art’ and ‘way’”. The reason for this title is that any work contains two levels of experience and law, I hope that you in the work not only focus on the accumulation of experience and skills training, but also pay more attention to the rules behind the summary.
First, the legal documents in the context of the reading of papers
The name of this series of courses is “legal documents”, we share the theme of reading in the context of legal documents. All aspects of criminal defense work is organically linked, when we talk about legal documents, we can not just talk about legal documents. It is embodied in the rigorous and eloquent wording, cohesion of a comprehensive and in-depth search, but also can not be separated from the lawyer repeatedly faced with the gaze of the file.
When I first began to be a lawyer, I had aspired to the seniors in the court of law in the argumentation of the free and easy, and had been obsessed with a variety of speech skills. Years later, my deepest feeling is that the case file in-depth grasp is in the court “from the ease and ease” of the biggest bottom, how familiar you are with the case file, on the court how comfortable. All the details of the evidence and the focus of the dispute insight, will naturally bring you a calm aura, emotional infectious force naturally follows. As the ancients said: ask the canal that get clear like this, for there is a source of living water. A wonderful court debate, an excellent legal documents, the most fundamental basis from a solid reading. Reading, is the realization of the key to freedom of argument.
Second, what kind of work is reading
01
What is “volume”
We must first understand what is “volume”. “Volume” is the evidence material of criminal cases, is the object of the work of judicial staff - the prosecution used to accuse the crime, the defense to find flaws and loopholes in order to oppose the charges. Nowadays, the number of criminal case files is increasing, and I have handled cases with a maximum of more than 2,000 files and a minimum of only 2 files.
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On the day the case is transferred for examination and prosecution, the defense attorney can go to the prosecutor's office to read the file. After the case is prosecuted to the People's Court, the Procuratorate will also transfer the case file to the Court. In order to avoid the court being influenced by the prosecution's evidence and forming a prejudgement, there was a time in history when the procuratorate was not required to transfer all case file materials to the court. Later on, the criminal procedure system was adjusted back to the full transfer model. I believe that the transfer of the entire case is necessary, as complex cases often involve hundreds or thousands of files, and the determination of facts is extremely complex, especially in economic crimes involving the equity structure, business model and other specialized content, which is difficult for the court to clear up in just a few days or even a few hours of court hearings without reading the files in advance.
I once read a story from the United States:
The defense lawyer learned that there was an old smoker among the jurors, so he lit up a cigar during the prosecution's presentation (it was surprising that smoking was allowed in the courtroom). The juror's attention was drawn to the cigar, and he was especially surprised to find that at the end of the cigar the ashes remained intact and did not fall out at all - the juror thus missed the key elements of the prosecution's case and eventually voted in favor of the defense. It turned out that the defense attorney had inserted a wire into the cigar in advance to ensure that the ashes would not fall out.
This may seem to reflect the wisdom of the lawyers, but when examined from the perspective of justice, this method is not desirable. The judicial system should ensure a just outcome and not rely on skillful manipulation.
Therefore, in order to achieve a fair judgment, it is necessary for the court to read the file comprehensively in order to fully understand the facts of the case. As for the avoidance of the prejudicial effect on the prosecution's evidence, it should be accomplished by further advancing the reform of the litigation system centered on the trial.
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The importance and necessity of reading the file
Reading the file is not only important for defense lawyers. When I was handling an illegal mining case in Guangxi, I met a very professional and committed prosecutor. He confessed that the original intention of sending complex cases to the Prosecution Committee for discussion was good, but the members of the Committee would not each read the files themselves, but it was sometimes difficult to solve the problem with only the written report written by the prosecutor in charge of the case. The quality of a case did not depend on the level of administrative position, but on the amount of time invested in reading the file. Many cases that do not appear to be problematic at first sight become suspicious only after much deliberation. The most accurate conclusions are not always reached through reports and written materials alone, lacking the process of chewing over them.
An article released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate also pointed out that after the reform of the judicial accountability system, it has become the norm for the leaders of the procuratorate to handle cases. However, it is worth alerting, part of the post of the leadership of the court to review the report, listen to reports and other ways to handle the case. Not only did not “read the review” “read the question” “read the truth” and “read the world”, and even the most basic Even the most basic “reading” of the case file materials are not available, deviating from the requirements of the personal experience of the judicial handling of cases. Similar circumstances, will bring serious quality of the case, contrary to the policy of judicial reform and the requirements of the party group of the Supreme Prosecutor, is going to be a problem.
Third, the premise: the basic concept of reading the file
The basic concept of the work of marking is crucial. Although we may be more concerned about the specific methods of operation, but the concept is fundamental. Idea refers to the goal, the fundamental purpose and the pursuit of value that we do a job to achieve. It determines the direction of our actions. As in the episode of the TV series “Silent Glory”, when General Wu Shi was asked about the reason for his submergence, he replied that after many years in the Kuomintang, he saw that “everyone had himself in his heart, a few had the party and the country in their hearts, and no one had the people in their hearts”. This is the fundamental difference in philosophy - one side is for personal or party self-interest, while the other side is for the benefit of the people. Ideas are different, the choice of specific behavior is naturally different. Marking work is also the same.
I think marking should establish the following concepts:
01
The case file is not just a pile of evidence, but also a reflection of the investigation process.
Young lawyers are easy to understand the case file as a book, think from the first page to the last page can be read, as a flat material. But the formation of the case file is a dynamic process, these dynamic information is also hidden in the case file, so it is easy to ignore its linear logic.
A Supreme Court judge once said, “Whether there is a problem in a case, investigators often know best, because they have experienced the process of obtaining evidence.” In many cases, the interrogation synchronized audio-video recording has become a “must fight”, is because it records the formation of the defendant's statement and the most “original” content, while the interrogation transcripts are processed by human products.
I once heard a senior lawyer introduced “disassembled and reorganized” method of reading the file. After she got the case file will be broken up and reorganized in chronological order. Because the case file is usually bound by the type of evidence (such as documentary evidence, witness statements, physical evidence, etc.), but this does not necessarily coincide with the investigation process. If the evidence retrieved according to the time to reorganize, you can see the public security organs to handle the case of the vein: first access to what evidence, and then find who asked.
This method helps to determine the “first evidence after evidence” or “first evidence after confession”. For example, in the case of intentional homicide, if the defendant first confessed to hide the knife place, the public security organs accordingly found the murder weapon, the confession credibility is high; on the other hand, if the public security organs first found the knife, and the defendant confessed, it does not rule out the possibility that the accused confessed to induce confession.
Understand the case file as a dynamic investigation process, but also help to understand the investigating authorities of the case ideas. I have handled a loan intermediary suspected of committing a crime, the case of crime and non-crime, this crime and his crime there is a major controversy, the investigating authorities initially filed a case with the crime of fraud, and then changed to the crime of illegal business operation, and I later saw from the case file that the investigating authorities have also attempted to provoke a provocative crime for investigation. This wavering of offenses reflects the uncertainty of the investigative mindset.
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Read the file to have a sense of the problem, do not “read” the file
Do not passively follow the file like reading a novel. Case file by the procuratorate, public security organs in accordance with the idea of accusation of crime, if you read along their logic, it is easy to be biased. I have many times deliberately observed, the professional level of lawyers, if only read the indictment or just a cursory reading of the case file, tend to think that the Procuratorate's allegations are established or “not a big problem”.
Just like our eyes, when looking at consecutive pictures will automatically fill in the frame to form the animation effect, in the reversal of the order of the text does not affect the reading, our thinking may also have this kind of “automatic fill in the frame” or “automatic rationalization” of inertia, if you do not intentionally keep the question Consciousness and follow the prosecution's thinking to read the evidence, the evidence chain loopholes will also be like “dropped frame” in the same way as the picture inadvertently be automatically filled up.
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The “Ruler” of Reading the Scripts
Everyone says that the key to reading the paper is in the details, the question is how to find the details.
The essence of reading the paper is to “check the evidence to know”, can be from the following basic aspects to “check” the evidence.
First, between evidence and evidence. Examine whether different evidence is contradictory or corroborative. For example, bribe-taking and bribing both sides of the amount of bribe money, gift location and other content is consistent.
Second, between evidence and law. Examine whether the evidence collection procedure is legal. For example, whether there is torture to extort confessions, finger confessions, induce confessions, whether there is a guardian present when questioning minors.
Third, between the evidence and common sense. Examine whether the content of the evidence is consistent with common sense. For example, a home invasion robbery case the defendant confessed to have such a paragraph:
I climbed through the window into this family's house, and there was no one in the living room. I saw on the table a kiwi that had been cut in half, the flesh of the kiwi had been hollowed out and only the thin skin remained, and a spoon was placed next to it, which should have been used to scoop up the flesh and eat it clean, and it was the first time that I knew that kiwis were eaten in such a way. Then a woman in the bedroom found me ......
The above is considered to have a high degree of truthfulness because it contains large portions of the defendant's mental activities that do not contribute to the determination of the facts of the crime and are therefore less likely to be artificially fictionalized.
By the same token, in a case I handled on the duty crime of the National 38 Red Flag Woman, the defendant was accused of accepting bribes in the process of the employee's transfer, and the employee also testified that he had sent money to the defendant. In the course of the defense verifying the situation with the witness, the employee made the following statement:
I and two other coworkers took the money to a certain hotel and gave it to Zhang Moumou (the defendant), and she took me to her superior, Li Moumou, and gave the money to Li Moumou. At that time, Li Moumou shrugged off not to, but we put the money on his desk and left.
The authenticity of the above testimony is equally high. If the witness in order to harbor the defendant and perjury, it is entirely possible to say that the defendant took him to hand over the money to the higher-ups Li Moumou, so as to achieve the purpose of helping the defendant to get rid of the bribery charges, Li Moumou shrugged off not to accept the money is a redundant plot, there is no need to fabricate the plot.
Fourth, between the evidence and logic. For example, I handled a hospital director bribery case, the defendant was accused of building outpatient buildings in the process of accepting bribes from developers more than 500 million yuan. However, after analyzing the case file in the outpatient building construction project contracting information, you can find that all the profits of the project is only five or six million yuan, how can the developer take out almost all the profits to bribe it? According to normal logic, bribery is also to consider the “cost-effective”.
Fourth, the process: the methods and techniques of reading the paper
Reading methods and skills have a lot, each lawyer has a unique experience. I think the overall can be summarized into two major levels, the first is the method of extracting information from the case file, and the second is to analyze the information compared to the skills. The former allows us to miss as little as possible, and the latter allows us to find more problems that are not easily noticeable.
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Focus first on the pleadings
The first precaution of reading the file is not to rush to start reading the file (specific evidence materials), but to first focus on the litigation documents, such as the prosecution opinion, indictment, first instance judgment, etc., which can help us quickly determine the content and logic of the prosecution's allegations. For example, when the bribe amount is less than 1 million yuan, in principle, the sentencing range in the following three years of imprisonment or detention, but according to the “Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the handling of criminal cases of embezzlement and bribery of the Interpretation of a number of issues related to the application of the law”, in the presence of more than three people bribe, will be used for the proceeds of the illegal bribe, bribery to obtain job promotion and other circumstances, in the amount of bribery in the 50-100 million yuan, the sentencing range is also in the amount of bribe, the amount of bribe. When the bribe amount is 1 million yuan, the sentencing range can also be upgraded to imprisonment of more than three years and less than ten years. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to whether the indictment contains expressions such as “aggravating circumstances” and other sentencing circumstances, as well as the content of the legal provisions cited.
02
Rename the case file for easy retrieval
Many times the copy of the electronic file naming is relatively simple, such as Volume I, Volume II ...... or 1, 2, 3 ......, can not see the content of the case file, according to the content of the case file on the document name of the notes, help to quickly lock a certain volume of the main content is what.
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03
Reading the volume at least three times
The work of reading the volume needs to go through at least three basic links. The first is a preliminary review, the purpose of which is primarily to screen and exclude evidence of low probative value or irrelevance. Although many of the current cases, especially black-related crimes and crowd-related economic crimes, the volume of material is huge, but the quality of evidence is often uneven - although the number of high-quality evidence is limited. Therefore, the core task of the first reading is to eliminate ineffective or inefficient evidence, clear review focus. Secondly, in the second reading, should focus on sorting out and lock the key evidence of substantial value, the relevant file marked as a key review of the object, in-depth analysis of which there is a core problem and to be clarified points. The third reading of the file focuses on checking for deficiencies and ensuring the thoroughness and rigor of the review.
One of the nation's top ten public prosecutors to share the experience of reading the file is: no matter whether the case is simple or complex, we must first filter against the General Principles of the Criminal Law, to verify that the case in the statute of limitations, the principal and accessory offender, the self-surrender of meritorious and other sentencing circumstances and other basic aspects of the problem, which sounds simple, in fact, is easy to produce negligence of the case-handling organs.
Of course, the work is not limited to these three times, it often needs to be repeated, continue to deepen. Very often, lawyers even in their dreams still constantly deduce the case, examine the doubts. Volume reading many times, never stop exploring.
The lawyer's work is essentially a never-ending professional practice. My family members often ask me: I handle only ten cases a year, why are you so busy all the time? I often find it difficult to explain. Because this work is different from the standardized products on the assembly line, can be delivered upon completion; it is more like artistic creation, can be constantly polished, continue to improve - here the logic can be more meticulous, the argument can be more adequate. It does not have a fixed factory standard, but only the responsibility to the parties, the professional conscience of the adherence to the pursuit of the ultimate professional realm. It is for this reason that there is always room for deepening this work, and there is no end to it.
04
Do not ignore every word
In reality, there is such an example, the defendant signed the transcripts written: “I have read the above transcripts, and you let me say the same”, or “I have read the above transcripts, and I said two,” which attempts to use such a cryptic expression to express the contents of the transcripts are not their own inside
