One early morning three years ago, a quarrel in front of a restaurant shattered the original calm of Lijiang's ancient city.
More than a dozen people surrounded a male college student in his early twenties, taking turns punching and kicking, and the scene was very chaotic.
The beaten student was called Cheng Zhaodong, and the short, high-density beating made him feel like he was on the verge of death.
In the panic, Cheng Zhaodong's hand was groping wildly on the ground, and when he touched the tool, he subconsciously began to wave his hand to resist.
In the end, Cheng Zhaodong caused injuries to five other people, and taking advantage of this gap, he quickly covered his wounds and fled the scene.
Due to the bad consequences caused by Cheng Zhaodong's resistance, the injured people immediately reported to the police, and he was arrested by the police after dawn.
After the first instance, the court convicted Cheng Zhaodong of intentional injury and sentenced him to 4 years in prison, suspended for 3 years.
For this result, Cheng Zhaodong and the victims Wang Yukuan and Dai Qian were not satisfied. Soon after, all three appealed.
Emotional disputes lead to conflict at the wine table
Cheng Zhaodong, a junior at Lijiang Normal College, was just twenty-two years old at the time of the crime.
On November 19, 2018, a good friend of Cheng Zhaodong organized a birthday party at the Cai-style restaurant in the ancient city of Lijiang.
Cheng Zhaodong and his girlfriend Deng Jia received an invitation from a friend very early, and at about eleven o'clock that night, the two were invited to an appointment.
The birthday party invited a total of about thirty people, including Cheng Zhaodong's friends and strangers who did not know him.
Because they had the same good friend, everyone sat down and began to chat, and the atmosphere at the wine table suddenly warmed up.
Cheng Zhaodong usually likes to socialize, and is no stranger to this kind of scene, and he quickly integrates into the birthday party between pushing cups and changing cups.
At this time, he did not expect that the originally pleasant and relaxed atmosphere would suddenly become awkward after Wang Yukuan came to toast.
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Wang Yukuan is the owner of a bar, and the two met because Cheng Zhaodong once sang in his bar.
Cheng Zhaodong and Wang Yukuan have known each other for only half a month, although they are not familiar with each other, but they also have some friendship.
Seeing Wang Yukuan come over to toast, Cheng Zhaodong took the initiative to raise his wine glass to greet him, "Brother Kuan, I salute you with this cup." ”
"Why should I drink with you alone?" Wang Yukuan looked at Cheng Zhaodong, not wanting to take this stubble at all, and his tone was even a little impatient.
Cheng Zhaodong did not expect that Wang Yukuan did not give himself face at all, and he had to take a drink from his wine glass in embarrassment. "I did it, you do it."
"Brother Kuan, he toasts you, you drink, give you a face." The other people at the table also realized that the atmosphere was not right and began to persuade the wine.
Wang Yukuan was angry in front of everyone, picked up the wine glass and reluctantly drank half a cup, turned around and went to another table to drink with others.
Cheng Zhaodong and Wang Yukuan had no complaints in the near future, and he didn't want to understand where Wang Yukuan had been provoked.
After about ten minutes, Cheng Zhaodong still wanted to make up for this matter, so he went to wang Yukuan with wine again.
"Brother Kuan, let's have another drink as if what just happened didn't happen."
"I said I didn't want to drink with you!" Wang Yukuan did not appreciate this sentiment at all, but directly picked up the wine glass and threw it on the ground.
Cheng Zhaodong touched the nose ash again, and felt that he was not interested, so he stopped tangling with Wang Yukuan and returned to his wine table to continue eating.
At this time, he suddenly thought that his girlfriend Deng Jia was the ex-girlfriend of Wang Yukuan's friend Dai Qian, was he hated by Wang Yukuan because of this?
Cheng Zhaodong, whose brain turned, proposed to talk to Wang Yukuan alone to solve the misunderstanding, so the two walked outside the restaurant one after the other.
During the period, Cheng Zhaodong mentioned to Wang Yukuan more than once that he respected him very much and did not want to make trouble with him because of his girlfriend's affairs.
Wang Yukuan said, You drink with me cup by cup, you are me. He felt that Cheng Zhaodong was under his own face.
The two stood outside the restaurant and talked for a while, but did not untie the knot, and then the two returned to the restaurant with their own thoughts.
Regarding the period between returning to the restaurant and Cheng Zhaodong leaving, Cheng Zhaodong and Wang Yukuan are not the same.
Cheng Zhaodong said that when he was outside the restaurant, Wang Yukuan promised to have another drink with him, and the two shook hands and made peace, no longer thinking about the previous events.
But after returning to the restaurant, Wang Yukuan did not show this meaning, and he was a little disfigured after he was bored.
So Cheng Zhaodong, who did not say hello to anyone, stopped a taxi in front of the restaurant and quietly left the birthday party scene.
Wang Yukuan did not mention that the two were going to drink, he said that the two did not quarrel when they chatted, and returned to the restaurant after a few casual words.
After that, he didn't pay much attention to Cheng Zhaodong, and he didn't know when he left.
Return to the restaurant and encounter a beating
In Cheng Zhaodong's account, after taking a taxi home, he originally thought that the day was over and did not think of returning to the restaurant.
But Deng Jia, who was still at the scene, was very anxious after finding him and kept sending him WeChat messages asking him where he had gone.
Thinking that her girlfriend also drank a lot of alcohol at the birthday party, she should have been a little drunk if she didn't drink much.
Cheng Zhaodong was worried that his girlfriend would not be safe to go home by himself, so he took a taxi back to the restaurant, planning to pick up his girlfriend and go back with him.
Wang Yukuan, Dai Qian, and a dozen other people were still drinking at the wine table at this time, and Wang Yukuan was still saying things like "just to throw him" in his mouth
Cheng Zhaodong, who had just arrived at the restaurant, heard Wang Yukuan still talking about the cup he had just dropped, and he was suddenly a little unhappy.
"What did I do wrong?" Cheng Zhaodong rushed up to question Wang Yukuan, with a look of wanting him to make it clear.
Cheng Zhaodong said that after he said this, the atmosphere of the restaurant was suddenly wrong.
A dozen people, led by Wang Yukuan and Dai Qian, stood up from the wine table and walked towards him together.
Girlfriend Deng Jia saw that the momentum was not right, hurriedly pulled him away from the restaurant, who expected Wang Yukuan and others to follow out.
Then, Cheng Zhaodong was overthrown to the ground by Wang Yukuan and his gang, and he felt the fists and feet of more than a dozen people fall on his body at the same time.
The moment he was beaten, Cheng Zhaodong first stayed where he was, and after reacting, he began to use his own strength to resist the other party.
"But there were so many of them that I couldn't break free, so I had to find out on the ground for a tool to fight back."
Under the extremely violent treatment, Cheng Zhaodong could only use all the forces around him.
He touched a long strip of tools, and before he could see what it was, he waved it at Wang Yukuan and the others.
In the midst of the chaos, Cheng Zhaodong stabbed five people, of whom Wang Yukuan and Dai Qian were seriously injured, and he himself was injured in many places.
Cheng Zhaodong said that in the desperate situation, he had no time to think, and he only wanted to end this chaotic farce.
So he didn't know exactly what tool he was using, where he had stabbed the other party, and what the consequences had been.
Wang Yukuan said that at first they did not want to beat Cheng Zhaodong, but Cheng Zhaodong took the initiative to provoke a dispute.
After returning to the restaurant from outside, he went straight up to question himself, and Deng Jia was still dissuading Cheng Zhaodong.
Later, several people walked out of the restaurant to communicate, and without saying a few words, there was a conflict, and after he was stabbed by Cheng Zhaodong, others came forward to beat Cheng Zhaodong.
Dai Qian also said that after he saw Wang Yukuan and Cheng Zhaodong going out, he was worried about an accident, and just when he went out to check, he found Wang Yukuan sitting on the ground.
Before he could ask about the specific situation, he was stabbed by Cheng Zhaodong.
After Cheng Zhaodong stabbed someone, he hurried to break away from the others, crawled to the side of the road with a rolling belt to stop a taxi, and quickly fled the scene.
Verdict of first instance: Convicted of intentional injury
The next day, Cheng Zhaodong was arrested by police at a friend's house on suspicion of intentional injury.
After being arrested and admitted to the detention center, Cheng Zhaodong's mood was not stable, and he often had depressive tendencies and even tried to commit suicide many times.
"I was the one who was beaten, so why did I go into the detention center instead?" Cheng Zhaodong always asked.
On February 23, 2019, due to Cheng Zhaodong's increasingly depressed tendencies, the police station agreed to release him on bail pending further investigation.
On March 4 of the same year, Cheng Zhaodong was diagnosed with "bipolar disorder" and "major depressive episodes" at the Shenyang Mental Health Center.
His discharge record states that the patient "has verbal auditory hallucinations, emotional instability" and "lack of self-awareness and impaired social functioning."
The accident a few months ago caused Cheng Zhaodong's mental condition to fluctuate significantly, and until he was discharged from the hospital, his symptoms had not completely disappeared.
On April 28, the Lijiang Gucheng District People's Court held a public trial of Cheng Zhaodong's case of intentionally injuring Wang Yukuan and others.
The prosecution argued that Cheng Zhaodong injured many people present with tools when the case occurred, which belonged to the category of intentional injury.
Cheng Zhaodong insisted that he was justified in defense, "More than a dozen people beat me together, can I still not resist?" ”
He believes that his actions were acts of self-defence after being infringed upon by the facts, and that they did not cause serious consequences, and should be judged as legitimate defense.
Surveillance shows that Wang Yukuan, Dai Qian, and others took the lead in attacking Cheng Zhaodong, and after Cheng Zhaodong was attacked, he used tools to slash and swing wildly.
Wang Yukuan and Dai Qian sat on the ground with their stomachs covered, and it was obvious that they were slashed by Cheng Zhaodong on the spot.
The Gucheng District People's Court held that Cheng Zhaodong caused serious consequences of "2 serious injuries, 2 minor injuries, and 1 minor injury".
The facts of the crime are clear, the motives for the crime are clear, and they exceed the reasonable scope of self-defense.
However, due to the fact that in this case, it was Wang Yukuan and others who took the lead in beating Cheng Zhaodong, and Cheng Zhaodong was not the only party at fault.
In addition, Cheng Zhaodong is more cooperative in the investigation and collection of evidence, so it can be appropriately considered for commutation of sentence.
On October 14 of the same year, the Gucheng District People's Court sentenced Cheng Zhaodong to 3 years in prison, suspended for 4 years, and bear certain economic compensation.
After the verdict was handed down, Cheng Zhaodong, as defendant, and the victims, Wang Yukuan and Dai Qianyi, appealed one after the other, demanding that the case be retried.
Cheng Zhaodong said that under the premise of being surrounded by more than a dozen people, the act of resistance was reasonable, and he would insist on finding his innocence.
The victim said that Cheng Zhaodong injured people with a knife and behaved badly, and should not be given such a light sentence.
On April 28, 2020, exactly one year passed since the first instance trial began.
After receiving the appeal, the Lijiang Intermediate People's Court revoked the first-instance judgment on the grounds that "the facts are unclear and the evidence is insufficient.".
The case was returned to the Lijiang Gucheng District People's Court for retrial.
The second instance upheld the original judgment
On January 7, 2022, after more than a year of re-investigation, the case was reopened.
In the second-instance trial, the Gucheng District People's Court updated many pieces of evidence and case details that were not mentioned in the first-instance trial.
At the first instance, the court did not conclude that Cheng Zhaodong "injured people with a knife", and Cheng Zhaodong himself also said that his tools for injuring people were found from the ground.
However, at the second trial, the court clearly defined Cheng Zhaodong's crime as "holding a knife and injuring someone.".
The police have conducted a search and investigation on the ground of the crime site, and found no glass fragments in Cheng Zhaodong's mouth nearby.
Hospital reports proved that several victims' wounds were most likely punctured by sharp metal objects.
Moreover, on the day of the crime, many witnesses present in court testified that someone had shouted that Cheng Zhaodong was holding a knife.
Supported by numerous evidences and confessions, the facts of Cheng Zhaodong's crime of stabbing five people, including Wang Yukuan, with a knife have become clear.
The court also said that on the day of the incident, Cheng Zhaodong did provoke, push and shove Wang Yukuan and others.
He was not as passive and harmless in his case as he described.
Wang Yukuan, a victim in the case, said that Cheng Zhaodong's statement about being beaten by more than a dozen people had his own exaggerated elements.
Wang Yukuan did not deny the fact that the two sides had beaten each other, but he also said, "Many people are pulling and persuading."
Cheng Zhaodong did not approve of the details of the new case raised by the court, and he especially firmly denied that he had injured someone with a knife.
"I went alone to provoke a dozen people, and according to common sense, is this possible?"
He believes that the court's interpretation of the surveillance video is biased, and he cannot single-handedly oppose more than a dozen people.
After a morning of trial, the Gucheng District People's Court made a judgment on the case based on the existing facts and relevant laws and regulations.
Cheng Zhaodong was convicted of intentional injury and sentenced to 3 years in prison, suspended for 4 years, and economic compensation of more than 270,000 yuan.
Cheng Zhaodong was sentenced to exactly the same sentence as at the first trial, and his reaction was no different from that at the first instance.
He said that surveillance video does not lie, and in the video, he did start to fight back after he was hurt.
"If there had been no resistance, I would have died on the spot." Speaking of the scene at that time, Cheng Zhaodong's emotions had not completely calmed down.
He said he would certainly not be convinced by the current verdict, "I believe that the court of second instance will make a fair judgment against me." ”
Wang Yukuan, like before, believes that the court's punishment for Cheng Zhaodong is too light.
Since being stabbed by Cheng Zhaodong, he had been recuperating for a whole year before he could get out of bed, which seriously affected his physical health.
At the same time, due to physical reasons, his previous bar has not been reopened, and the quality of life and economic income have dropped significantly.
Mr. Wang said he would continue to appeal and must make Mr. Cheng pay his due price for his impulses.
At present, the Lijiang Intermediate People's Court has received the appeal request of the two people, and the case has not yet been heard.
-Ends-
Resources
Red Star News: "Lijiang 22-year-old college student was surrounded by more than 10 people, resisted and seriously injured 2 people, and was sentenced to 3 years in prison for intentional injury"
Red Star News: "Lijiang University Students Were Beaten and Injured in a Retrial Sentence, the Defendant Was Not Found to Be Legitimate Defense"