Chapter 23: The Lawyer Who Never Loses

The court denied bail application for Dr Gunn. No matter how hard Woravej tried, it seemed like there was someone trying to go one step further. It was Deputy Superintendent Bird who strongly wrote an objection to the bail application that Gunn should not be temporarily released because he was involved in many serious crimes and was being investigated for attempted murder of Mr Som. The grant of bail release on bail could impede or obstruct police investigations or judicial proceedings. Although the young doctor did not interfere with witnesses or evidence before this, the situation changed when he became the accused in many cases.

"I thought you only write mediocre case files nowadays. Who would have thought you still have your skills?" Woravej said to the person at the end of the line as he parked in the prison parking lot. "If my client stayed obedient and didn't run and turn himself in without telling me, I wouldn't have lost and I wouldn't have let my client be in prison like that for sure."

"Hey, I don't have time to listen to your talk," the deputy superintendent's tone seemed displeased. "If you call to talk about winning and losing, you don't need to call."

"Let me congratulate my law school classmates."

"I don't think it's a compliment," Bird said in frustration. "Where are you now?"

"I'm visiting my client, otherwise someone might say I don't work," Vej turned off the car engine and opened the door. "Anyway, why are you asking about me? Do you miss me so much that you want to come see me or do you want someone to come pick you up?"

"Talking to you is a huge waste of time. I'll hang up now," and Bird hung up without much care.

Woravej got out of the car smiling as he managed to make fun of someone. The smile contrasted greatly with the gloomy atmosphere of the prison.

Gunn entered the room wearing a loose brown shirt and pants, followed by the sound of the iron door being closed from the outside by the prison guard. Woravej stood up and gestured with his hand to the seat in front of the glass-enclosed table.

"How are you, Dr. Gun?" Both men sat down at the same time.

"As well as could be possible," replied Gunn. Lawyer Vej observed Gunn's expression. The trial prisoner seemed calmer than when he was fighting the case outside, which made Woravej feel dejected.

"All of my previous clients wanted to clear themselves of the charges so they wouldn't have to stay in prison. You're probably the only one who has such a strong determination to plead guilty." Vej took out documents and a book from his briefcase and placed them on the table. "Although that's the case, I still won't let you receive too much punishment. Now it's up to the police and the prosecutor whether they are strong enough or not. If they are weak, don't plead guilty to anything you shouldn't."

"I have already pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr. Somsak."

"But I won't let you stay in prison for long because you and Dr. Somsak don't need any more prison time for trying to kill the delusional Mr. Som. From the witnesses and the evidence right now, I can tell you that you can easily free yourself from the accusation." Then Vej said in a more serious tone: "I have let you do whatever you want. From now on trust me a little more and do what I tell you. Testify in court as I tell you, do you understand?"

Gunn seemed to be against it, but he did not show it or say anything. Woravej sighed and continued saying, "Paying for your sin does not always have to mean serving the longest possible imprisonment. You can spend your time while you are free outside to use your abilities to help other people. To make good merits."

Gunn remained still for a long time because of Vej's words. After the young man processed his thoughts, he looked up and met Vej's eyes, "Let me listen to you first about what I have to do."

Lawyer Vej smiled as he was beginning to see signs of cooperation from his secretly stubborn client. Vej lowered his voice to be sure no one outside the room could hear them. "Wipe your memory of all the real incidents and memorize the new story I have written. That's all."

Gunn looked absentmindedly at the gloomy gray walls in front of him, "What's wrong with Wasan? Is there any movement on his part?"

"He was missing for a while. I heard that he kept to himself and didn't go to work. He didn't go to his shifts and didn't report the reason for his absence to his superiors, so he was subjected to some disciplinary actions, but nothing serious. Also "It seemed like he was ordered to be briefly imprisoned for a while, but now he's free. He looks much better," Vej told Gunn to make him feel calmer. "There is no news about euthanasia evidence being handed over to the police. Inspector Wasan must have chosen to keep it or destroy it... to protect you."

Dr. Rin came to act as a prosecution witness in the attempted murder case of the delusional Mr. Som because she was the forensic doctor who took the tissue sample from under Mr. Som's fingernails and was the one who recorded the autopsy of the wound for him. After all of prosecutor Sawitree's questions were asked, it was time for Woravej to do cross-examination. The well-proportioned lawyer in his lawyer's robe stood in front of the witness stand. Rin had to admit that he was very handsome, but his well-known reputation made it impossible for her to admire his good looks. The same thing happened to Inspector Em, who was also observing in the courtroom. The young man sent Rin an encouraging look and a smile.

"Have the witness and the accused had any conflict before?" This was the question Woravej asked Rin. As he was acting as a specialist witness, he did not expect this to be the first question he was asked.

"The defendant and I work in the same hospital, but in different units. We have never been involved or had any conflict before," Rin said firmly.

"But I have some information," the defendant's lawyer smiled slightly. "That the witness is the daughter of Dr. Somsak, whom the accused has just pleaded guilty to the police for killing him. Is that correct?"

The doctor paused. This question made him realize that this lawyer had no mercy. Rin clenched her fist, bit her teeth, and replied, "That's right. I am Dr. Somsak's daughter."

This information clearly gave Woravej the advantage. The defendant's lawyer seemed pleased and asked the following question: "From the autopsy of the wound. The skin bruises were parallel on the neck, when combined with the fingernail marks, is there any possibility that These marks were self-inflicted?" Woravej grabbed his neck and dug his nails into his skin, "Like this."

"It's possible," Rin breathed out to calm herself, trying not to show the other side again that she was influenced. "But the DNA under the nails should in that case belong to Som and not the accused."

"I'll only talk about the injuries." Lawyer Vej remained in his position. "Then the answer is that it is possible, correct?"

Rin frowned as he continued to ask, "The possibility is low."

"Low, but possible, correct? I have no more questions," Woravej turned to speak to the judge and returned to his seat with a smile at the corner of his mouth.

The interrogation of witnesses by the hallucinated Mr. Som continued for many hours. So much time passed that Gunn felt extremely bored. His mission was to say what Woravej recommended.

"Accused, please explain to me which incidents were most likely to lead to your DNA being found under Mr. Som's fingernails," Woravej asked Gunn this question while cross-examining the accused in court.

"I've been doing home visits ever since," Gunn, dressed in a male prisoner's uniform, calmly responded. "I usually pay him visits. Sometimes I visited him alone even when it was not on schedule. That day I went to see Som at home. He was mentally unstable and thought I was the Angel of Death dressed in white, so he told me "He attacked by using his hands to scratch me behind the ears and neck."

Prosecutor Sawitree looked at Woravej sadly. He prepared many questions in his mind.

"And then what?" Lawyer Woravej asked again.

"So I ran out and thought I'd better not mess with him." Gunn said forcefully. "This incident occurred about three days before Som's symptoms reappeared and he had to be admitted to hospital recently."

"Was there anyone else who knew about this visit?"

"No, but I have a community psychiatry project with psychiatrists, so I was particularly interested in psychiatric cases in the areas under my responsibility. Before starting the project, I had to go to the community to study the problems faced by patients. "Mr. Som was one of the patients in my target group."

"A medical syringe was found in Som's house. After analysis, it was found to be a mixture of benzodiazepines, morphine and a high dose of potassium chloride. What can the defendant explain about this?"

Gunn shook his head: "I have no explanation. I don't know how that medicine was found in Som's house."

After Woravej's questions, it was time for prosecutor Sawitree to cross-examine him. He was sure he had done his homework well today. The young woman in a lawyer's robe took a few steps and stood confidently in front of Gunn.

"The defendant is a palliative care doctor, so you have experience mixing morphine and benzodiazepines, is that correct?"

Gunn frowned, "Correct, but this does not mean that I was the one who mixed that medicine. Doctors with similar tasks have the ability to mix medicines in the same way. I am not the only person who can do this."

"On the night of the incident, you said that you were sleeping at home, but there is no witness to confirm that you were actually at home because your boyfriend, Inspector Wasan, was on shift, correct?"

"Yes, but there is also no evidence to confirm that I left the house that night." Because Gunn turned off the CCTV at home and did not take his car out of the village, the CCTV at the security guard's kiosk could not have recorded it. Gunn rented an outside car to use as a front and parked it somewhere away from Som's house.

"Normally, before the accused made home visits, he had to report to the home visiting team and inform the local authorities. There should be no arbitrary visits, correct?"

"It depends on the case, but I recognize that there were many times that I did not comply with the regulations because I wanted to speed up the visits."

Woravej raised an eyebrow. Today, Prosecutor Sawitree was fighting impressively. However, from the evidence so far, apart from the DNA under Som's fingernails and the accusation of a psychiatric patient who still has to be in the hospital due to frequent relapses, there was nothing else that could connect with Gunn. Victory would be his no matter what.

Rin's frustration level at this point had shot through the roof. He paced back and forth in front of the table in front of the Forensic Department. "This person lied shamelessly. Gunn feels no remorse for his expression."

"But he seemed extremely exhausted," Em said. He looked at his girlfriend, who seemed to have flames burning on the top of her head. "I think he's not that happy right now."

"I'm not happy either," Rin crossed her arms and looked away.

"He's paying for the sins he's committed. He's in prison right now," Em smiled and walked over to stand next to the young woman. He moved his face closer to say next to her ear, "It's okay if you're not happy right now. You have me, who will take you to eat something tasty every time you're not happy."

The young woman rolled her eyes and pushed the burly man's chest, "I don't like that stuff."

"But you're blushing," Em pointed to Rin's cheeks. "Go look in the mirror, your cheeks are red."

"Why do we make fun of each other like we're children? We're way beyond this."

"Even if we've gone beyond this, we can always go back to the flirting stage. There's no hard and fast rule about it anyway."

The young man and the woman taunted each other the entire way as they walked out of the building toward the parking lot. Rin's eyes suddenly saw two men talking not far away. She would have continued walking without paying attention if both men hadn't been someone she knew. One of them was James, the young coroner who had worked here for less than five years. James was a handsome young man who was often asked to be the hospital's MC. The other person was Advocate Woravej, the Gunn lawyer. Rin quickly grabbed Em's wrist and pulled him to hide behind the pillar of the building and listen to the conversation.

"Yes, he did. He came to see me earlier," James looked uncomfortable. "At first I thought he just wanted to check something at the Forensic Department because he was the director back then. However, he often came to see me privately during his last days."

"Other than you, did Dr. Somsak go to see anyone else?"

James nodded, "I heard that Professor Somsak went to see many people, but I don't know who those people were."

"So what I have heard is correct," Woravej wrote in his book. "Do you know if Dr. Somsak also approached Dr. Gunn in that way?"

"I'm not sure. But from the looks of it, Professor Gunn should have attracted Professor Somsak."

Lawyer Vej smiled, closed his book, and raised his hand to touch James' shoulder. "Thanks for the information. I won't take up any more of your time, James."

After James left, Rin decided to come out of hiding to show herself to Voravej and Em was unable to stop her in time. Voravej turned around and saw the young woman staring at him, very upset. Lawyer Vej smiled at Rin instead of greeting her, turned around and left without saying anything.

"Here's what he has to say about Dr. Somsak." Woravej stared at Gunn to make sure his client was listening attentively. "I'm going to make the judge empathize with you by explaining to the court your motivations for acting. What you did was out of anger that Dr. Somsak killed his patients. Another thing you can say is that Dr. Somsak sexually harassed you." .

"What did you say?" Kan immediately looked at Vej.

"I did my homework and found out that Dr. Somsak had a habit of approaching handsome men like you in the hospital." Lawyer Vej explained calmly so that Gunn would not get angry that he had mentioned this: "So I wanted to ask you if I had done that to you before."

"No," Gunn said firmly. "It was true that he paid special attention to me, but he never sexually harassed me like he did with the pharmacist named Boss."

Woravej pointed out to Gunn: "We're just highlighting the word 'extra attention', that's all."

The man in the prison uniform shook his head, his eyes seemed sad. "Mr. Vej, I know you are talented and have never been defeated. You will find any loophole and use it to help your client win the case, but I want this to end now. I killed Dr. Somsak. I don't know why I have "We have to continue lying and trampling on the dead man. Dr. Somsak's daughter won't want to hear this either. Let's save this kind of testimony for those who were really sexually harassed because they are the ones who need empathy, not me."

Woravej listened calmly. He looked with regret at the young man who had a bright future. Lawyer Vej sighed softly, put his hands on the table and clasped them, "I respect your determination, even if it goes against what I think. However, your case made me reconsider many things. It made me see the human side from a different perspective." perspective that I had never thought of before." Finally, Vej relented and was more open to accepting what Kantapat wanted. "Don't worry. Even if I lose this case, I will be with you until the end."

"May I now invite the defendant's attorney to make a verbal statement to close the case?"

Woravej stood up and walked to the front of the court. He bowed before the judge before saying: "Before the respected court, I, Woravej Kerdkiat, as counsel for the accused, would like to make a verbal statement to close the case for the respected court to use in its deliberations and resolve the case accordingly. with the law and the facts in the following way",

After that, Voravej talked about the details related to Dr. Somsak's assassination plan.

"In conclusion, the defendant confessed that he disguised himself as an orderly to take Dr. Somsak, the deceased, to the surgical patient ward building and injected a high dose of potassium chloride into his veins while they were in the elevator, which which caused the cardiac arrest and subsequent death of the deceased. It is evident that although the accused had the intention to deliberately kill the deceased, since the plans to disguise himself were put in place and the needle, equipment and poison were prepared in advance, The defendant did not intend to cause suffering to the deceased. After receiving the poison into his body, the deceased only had symptoms of a normal unconscious person before the body's function failed and ultimately resulted in death.

The defendant's actions occurred out of anger, because the deceased killed 8 patients under his responsibility, the details of which had already been reported by the media, and one of the deceased's cases is currently also being considered. It also appeared in cross-examination of witnesses that the deceased's acts as a defendant in other previous cases of intentional murder were carried out cruelly for his own gratification and his own sense of power, including the use of managerial status to force other people to cooperate. , even though the deceased was a professional doctor who should be kind and wish patients the best. All of which is in accordance with what was previously stated by the complaining prosecutor to justify why the deceased should be severely punished. It is evident that even if the accused had conflicts or was angry with the deceased before, those conflicts and anger were more reasonable than the motivation of the deceased, who was also a doctor and committed crimes of murder.

Throughout the trial, the accused confessed to having murdered the deceased and expressed remorse. The defendant has always known that following his confession and the court's decision to punish him for his crimes, he will be subjected to harsh criminal sanctions at the plaintiff's request. His intended future and career advancement that he dedicated his efforts to working for for many years may come to an end and he may not be able to continue in the medical profession as the defendant may have his medical license revoked. From our conversations as attorney and client from the beginning until now, the defendant has always confirmed his determination to confess. The defendant gladly accepts the sentence and insists that he will use his knowledge and skills to assist in prison activities during his incarceration, which clearly demonstrates that the defendant did not confess because he surrendered to the evidence. As the court has shown, the defendant's testimony presented during the examination of witnesses greatly helped shed light on the case. It can also confirm that the accused has cooperated very well and without fail during the process. Furthermore, during his temporary release, he has shown no signs of absconding or any tendency to interfere with witnesses and evidence, or to intimidate witnesses who came forward to testify.

The accused is a doctor in a government hospital. He has a stable career and practiced medicine through a medical certificate specializing in family medicine. He was loved by his colleagues and always behaved with courtesy and correctness towards those around him. Furthermore, he has always been respected by patients and their families. He has also received an award as an outstanding physician in his practice of medicine. Therefore, it can be said that the defendant has good conduct and prior virtue."

Woravej paused for a moment, took a deep breath and continued: "Based on the aforementioned reasons given to the respected Court, I request that the Court sentence the accused in the lightest manner that the Court deems appropriate to give the accused an opportunity to repent." and continue to do good works for society, all of which depends on your consideration.”

Once the verbal statement to close the case was finished, Woravej moved his sore body out to take the briefcase out of the room. Woravej looked up and saw the man in a police uniform waiting for him. Lawyer Vej quickly wiped the tiredness from his expression so the other person wouldn't see it, "Deputy Superintendent."

"Lawyer," Bird put both hands in his pocket. "I heard your client won't be able to buy you a beer anymore."

Vej raised an eyebrow, "It seems so."

"Then you have to find someone else to take you," Bird pretended, looking in other directions. "You don't have to follow me if you don't want to."

After saying this, the police officer turned around and walked away, leaving Vej standing there, stunned.

When he saw that the other person was not following him, the person who pretended to be uninterested turned around once again. "It will be craft beer, not capitalist beer. If that's not enough, I can also buy you a meal. Stir-fried meat and basil taste pretty good."

The last sentence made the tall lawyer raise an eyebrow slightly before flashing a smile as he followed the policeman, who turned around and led the way.

"Using what I like to attract me like this, I surely can't deny it."