#头条创作挑战赛 #
In 1944, the Second World War had not yet ended, but the situation had become clearer, and social life in London, England, was gradually on track. One day of the month, a court was hearing a homicide case, and the person standing in the dock was Harold, a well-known local thief who had been jailed for more than a dozen burglaries. After the outbreak of war, Nazi Germany bombed London indiscriminately, and Harold temporarily withdrew his hands in consideration of his personal safety, and did his legitimate job for a period of time - volunteering for the war. Now with the clarity of the war situation, Harold "returned to his old business" one night a few days ago, sneaked into a bar alone to try his luck, and the next day someone found the bar's lady dead in the bar counter, with deep pinch marks on her neck, and the forensic doctor determined that she was strangled alive by a very strong hand. Note: One hand, not two.
Bar at the time
Since Harold had been on the scene and he only had one hand, he was naturally designated as the number one suspect. This guy has a huge number of criminal records at the local police station, so the police rushed into Harold's house very lightly, lifted him out of bed very lightly, took him to the police station very lightly, and performed a "big memory recovery technique" on him very lightly, and after a familiar "standard package", Harold admitted that he sneaked into the bar the night before to steal, and in the process made a movement to wake up the boss lady, and he was found by the boss lady and strangled the boss lady with his only hand in order to silence him. The policeman was very satisfied, and said very pretentiously: "As soon as you come in, say how good, let the gentlemen suffer and 'entertain' you." ”
Royal Police
……
When he first went to court, Harold was also very cooperative and confessed to the crimes he committed. However, just when the jury reached a verdict and the court was about to convict Harold of murder, Harold suddenly retracted his confession emotionally, denying all his crimes, as for the content he confessed before was the result of being "big memory recovery" on himself by the police, he didn't know what he said after he was tortured, these contents were made up by this gang of policemen, he did sneak into the bar that night to steal, but after entering, he found the boss lady dead in the counter, He fled the scene in fear without stealing anything, and he did not kill anyone at all.
Then there is embarrassment, long periods of embarrassment. The reporters present picked up their cameras and slammed into Harold, and the policemen in the audience all looked "white and red" (angry), but they could only be angry, Harold was right, they did perform "big memory recovery surgery" on him, although they knew that Harold was delirious when he claimed to confess was nonsense, but the public would not care about these details. They never expected that Harold, who usually looked harmless to humans and animals, would actually play this hand with them.
The forensic doctor in charge of the autopsy of the bar lady also looked embarrassed, and his autopsy concluded that the lady died of mechanical asphyxia and was strangled by a strong hand. Since the killer was wearing gloves, no fingerprints were left at the scene and on the body of the deceased. Strangling the proprietress with just one hand will not convict Harold.
The trial was deadlocked.
At this point, Harold made a request for the court to find Sir Spearsbury, a senior pathologist at the Home Office, who would prove his innocence.
As soon as the words were shocked, who was Bernard Spearsbury? He is a master of forensic pathology in the United Kingdom and the top of the legal community. How far is the top? As long as he appeared in the newspaper, and the newsboy shouted "Spearsbury is coming, he wants to participate in the investigation of so-and-so's murder", the newspaper of the day would be robbed by everyone in a short time.
Bernard Spearsbury
King George V of England
The senior forensic doctor, who debuted in 1905, became a senior pathologist at the Home Office in 1910, and was knighted by King George V in 1922, is a legend, and as long as he testifies on the witness stand, the defendant and the defendant's lawyer will even involuntarily become nervous, and there have been cases when he appeared in court before he opened his mouth, and the defendant who had previously refused to admit confessed in court. A reporter once described Spearsbury as follows: "He testified in the tone of a savior for the courtroom, he always walked into the courtroom with gold-rimmed glasses very serious, but with a confident face, everyone was listening intently to every word he said when he testified, he absolutely stole the limelight of the judge, as if it was he who held the gavel, and at this moment, he was the savior."
This is enough to show how influential his words are on the court, almost a top 10,000 sentence.
But would such a heavyweight testify to someone like Harold? The judge ordered the letter suspiciously: "Sir Spearsbury is invited to court!" ”
Bernard Spearsbury
……
At this time, Spearsbury was 67 years old, but he still looked confident, and when he stood on the witness stand, he glanced at Harold in the dock, and then said to the judge very calmly: "Your Excellency, I am willing to testify for the defendant Harold, because I have held Harold's hand more than once before, and I obviously feel that this hand is weak, and I do not believe that he can strangle anyone with this hand." ”
As soon as this remark came out, there was an uproar in the audience and a lot of discussion in the audience. But the prosecution prosecutor, who firmly believed that Harold was the murderer, questioned the gray-haired Spearsbury: "Mr. Spearsbury, is it possible that Harold, who is eager to escape the suspicion of the killer, has tricked you?" ”
As soon as the word "juggling" was uttered, Spearsbury replied almost without hesitation in an arrogant tone: "No, I don't think so, Your Honor, I think it is offensive to me that the prosecutor is doubting the professionalism and professional integrity of a forensic doctor, and I ask him to apologize." ”
Fine art, British judge
At this point, the tone of this trial was set, out of blind trust in an authoritative bigwig in the British judicial science community (the court at that time was almost a god to forensic experts, obeying the words of forensic experts), after all, Spearsbury is so famous, he has solved many famous cases in his life, such as the Lloyd's serial murder of wife and insurance fraud case that occurred from 1912 to 1914, and has the reputation of "the king of forensic medicine" in Britain (his temper is also as big as his fame, And he will never admit any faults and mistakes as a forensic doctor, although he is not from the "old London Zhengmi Banner", but he is a knight personally named by the first King George V, and his frontal toughness will obviously not fall into the slightest benefit). So although the judge and the jury felt that Spearsbury's testimony that day was a bit arbitrary and reluctant, they finally accepted Spearsbury's testimony, acquitted Harold of murder, and released him on the spot.
Central Criminal Court of London
Sir Bernard Spearsbury died in London on 17 December 1947 at the age of 70.
……
However, in 1964, once the prosecution period in this case had expired (the prosecution period in common law criminal cases was 20 years, once 20 years had passed, even if the murderer was determined, he would not be convicted), Harold publicly admitted in an interview that he had strangled the barkeeper 20 years earlier, sometime in 1944, with his only hand. The reporter expressed disbelief, and Harold immediately demonstrated: he pinched the female reporter's neck with his only arm, pressed against the wall, and retracted his fingers while pushing hard in the direction of the wall, and soon the female reporter rolled her eyes, waved her arm and struggled to signal Harold to let go, and the female reporter expressed her belief while letting go after Harold let go.
Then the reporter asked Harold why he told the truth, Harold said that he really couldn't hide this secret in his heart, because it was too ridiculous and ironic, because he used the confidence and arrogance of the "king of forensics" Spearsbury to use him as a gun, playing prosecutors, judges and jury, too accomplished, not to say it is uncomfortable in his heart, anyway, the prosecution period has passed, it is impossible to prosecute himself for this crime, so he has to say it. Then Harold laughed irrepressibly in front of the reporter.
If the great "king of forensics" Bernard Spearsbury knew anything, could the coffin plate be held down?