Chapter 39: Murder and Dismemberment

  Xiao Jiading wanted this, because the "Yonghui Code" says "those who are reduced by five degrees." Flogging is the lightest punishment, from ten to fifty floggings, divided into five degrees. Now, those who want money have been sentenced to four degrees of forty floggings, and if they are reduced by another five degrees, they will exceed the lightest punishment of ten floggings, so they won't be punished at all. In this way, even if the Censor and others investigate the case in the future, they won't find any problems.

  This case is settled like this, what to do when encountering similar cases in the future?

  Xiao Jiading felt a bit tricky and could only take it one step at a time.

  However, this case gave Xiao Jiadeng a new problem. Because in the Tang Code, almost all crimes involving the valuation of stolen goods were calculated according to the standard of silk, and the price of silk varied greatly across the country, the sentencing in different regions differed greatly with the change in silk prices; thus inevitably leading to inconsistent sentencing standards nationwide, and the phenomenon of different judgments for the same case must have been widespread. Therefore, a regulation on the valuation of stolen goods should be formulated.

  Xiao Jiading, who specializes in the study of legal history, knows that such regulations were promulgated twice during the Tang Dynasty. The first time was during the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. The court formulated a unified silk price for calculating the value of stolen goods nationwide, which was 550 coins per bolt. However, in the late Tang Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, due to the great chaos and soaring prices, the price of silk also surged greatly. The court had no choice but to unify the national standard for estimating the value of stolen goods again, stipulating that one bolt of silk was equivalent to 900 coins. However, such a regulation does not exist in the current Tang Dynasty.

  He was preparing to tell Tang Lin about this matter at the right time and ask him to petition the imperial court for a unified regulation. His words should have weight.

  Xiao Jiading returned to the signing room and continued to read the judgment. There were several more cases behind that involved estimating the value of stolen goods.

  Because the prison had been handed over in the morning, after reporting the verdict, the whole case must be transferred. So in the afternoon, the cases that were reported to Xiao Jiading and had not yet been submitted to County Magistrate Kang for review were all sent over. Xiao Jiading began to read through the case files.

  Just then, County Magistrate Deng walked in with a smile all over his face, holding a stack of files in his hands, saying: "Xiao Zhīyī!"

  Xiao Jiading saw him and hastily stood up, saying: "County Magistrate Deng, is there something going on?"

  "I've come to deliver the case files to you."

  "Hey, County Magistrate Deng, why are you personally carrying the case files? Isn't it supposed to be delivered by a clerk from the penal department? Quick, put them on the table."

  County Magistrate Deng placed the case files on Xiao Jiading's desk and smiled, "This is a very important case, so after I finished reading it, I personally delivered it here."

  "What case is it that County Magistrate Deng has personally brought over?"

  "A murder case, the county magistrate of Kang had personally tried this case and reported it after sentencing, but the provincial government's legal officials thought the case was suspicious, so they sent it back for re-trial. This case, both I and Xu the judicial officer have carefully examined and didn't think there was anything suspicious about it, however since the provincial government's legal officials said the case is suspicious, we must thoroughly re-examine it. We looked at it again and still couldn't find any problems. It wouldn't be good to ask the provincial government's legal officials where exactly the suspicion lies. Thinking that Xiao Zhīyī was highly recommended by Tang Sima and is well-versed in criminal law, this case can only be asked of you to personally take a look at it, what exactly is suspicious about it."

  Xiao Jiading said: "You all can't see it, how could I possibly see it?"

  It was said that, but Xiao Jiading still flipped through it with interest. Deng Xianwei smiled and bowed his hands, saying: "Then I'll take my leave." After speaking, he stepped out the door and left.

  Xiao Jia Ding briefly reviewed the judgment from the previous report, and the case was as follows: In Huangyan Village of this county, a woman surnamed Tong reported that her six-year-old son had gone missing. She searched everywhere and eventually found his clothes and pants by the riverbank near their village. After asking someone to search the river, they only found one arm! The mother recognized the chain wrapped around the wrist as belonging to her son and immediately reported it to the authorities. The police searched the surrounding area and found another arm, a pair of feet, and a torso cut in half at the waist, along with internal organs. Finally, they discovered a child's head in a foul-smelling ditch, which was later identified as Tong's son through recognition. As a result, the police interrogated every villager one by one. Someone reported seeing the boy's aunt, Zhao, squatting near the foul-smelling ditch that day and even greeting her. Tong also testified that she had previously seen Zhao secretly meeting with someone, and it was believed that Zhao was enraged and killed her own child in a fit of anger. The police then arrested Zhao.

  The county magistrate personally ascended the hall to interrogate, at first Zhao did not admit to murder. The county magistrate used torture, in the end Zhao confessed, saying she had an argument with her child, pushed him and he fell, hitting his head on a rock and dying. She was afraid, so she dismembered the corpse, using the excuse of beating pig feed, putting the body parts and clothes into a carrying pole to scatter everywhere. The case was thus solved, originally tried for intentional homicide, sentenced to beheading.

  He then looked at the provincial government's order for retrial and saw only one sentence: "This case is suspicious."

  Cases sent back for retrial must first go through the criminal house examination, and then be reported to the judicial department and county Wei. After being reviewed by the executive clothing, they will be delivered to the county magistrate. The county magistrate will make a judgment based on the situation of the retrial and the draft verdict, and then hold another trial in court before making a final decision.

  The clerk in charge of re-examining the case, the judicial and Deng County Wei, all felt that there was no problem with the case, so they reported it to Xiao Jiading.

  Xiao Jiading began to flip through the case files. The materials were not many, just some confessions and testimonies, as well as the coroner's examination report on the corpse, and finally, a cleaver used in the crime was collected. He quickly finished reading all the materials, except for the murder weapon, the cleaver, which had not been sent over.

  He took a look and his book boy, Tong Wen Yan, had just returned, holding a stack of judgments. He placed them in front of Xiao Jia Ding, wiped the sweat off his face, and said: "I've found all of them, they're all here, these are the judgments for all the cases handled by Wu Dong Hai."

  Xiao Jiading nodded: "You've worked hard, go ask Deng Xianwei, where is the cleaver that dismembered the body in the case of Tong's nephew? Please have him send it over for me to take a look."

  Wen Yan replied, "County Magistrate Deng said that the murder weapons are all stored in the evidence warehouse and cannot be moved with the case. If you want to see them, you can only go to the evidence warehouse or wait until County Magistrate Kang holds court, at which time the weapons will be presented as evidence."

  Xiao Jiading nodded and began to think about the case.

  From a modern perspective on evidence standards, this case is definitely lacking in evidence. Apart from confessions, the only strong evidence is the testimony of a villager who saw Tong's family member squatting by the ditch where the victim's skull was later found. Other testimonies did not serve as direct proof. The cleaver used for dismembering, because it had no bloodstain identification, and it is unknown whether the blood on it belonged to the victim or even a human being. As for the motive of the crime, Tong's testimony was not corroborated by other evidence, and Zhao never admitted to having an affair with someone else. Her confession was made under torture, which would have been considered a legitimate way to obtain evidence in the Tang Dynasty, but it raises significant doubts for Xiao Jiadong from a modern perspective. This type of evidence is considered illegal in modern times and should be excluded. As a result, the evidence in this case becomes extremely thin.

  Is this what the provincial government meant by "the case is suspicious"?

  Xiao Jiading immediately negated it. Because he studied legal history, he knew that in ancient China, confessions were the king of evidence, and as long as there was a confession, other evidence was not needed to make a conviction. Therefore, from the standard of evidence required for conviction during the Tang Dynasty, this case was already an ironclad case with sufficient evidence. So, when the prefecture said "reserve judgment", it should not be about whether the evidence is sufficient or not.

  What does the provincial capital mean by being suspicious again?

  He was at his wit's end. In the end, he decided to write down his opinion agreeing with the draft judgment of the Criminal Department and report it to County Magistrate Kang for further investigation.

  The county magistrate looked at it and instructed Xiao Jiading: "Tomorrow morning, the court will try this case. You inform Deng County Wei and let him arrange."

  Xiao Jiading agreed and went to find County Wei, telling him that County Magistrate would ascend the hall tomorrow. Deng County Wei hastily arranged for the yamen runners to inform the witnesses and the victims' families to arrive at the hall early next morning. After making the arrangements, Deng County Wei asked Xiao Jiading in a low voice: "Have you found any doubts or inconsistencies in the case?"

  Xiao Jiading shook his head and said, "This case has already had the perpetrator confess, and we've also obtained the murder weapon used for dismemberment, as well as witnesses who saw her appear at the scene where the body was abandoned. The evidence is sufficient; if there's anything lacking, it's just the evidence of this woman's motive for murdering her husband. — Didn't you ask her about the evidence that she was caught by the victim's mother having an affair?"

  County Magistrate Deng said: "Currently, this evidence only has the statement of the deceased's mother, Tong Shi. When we asked others in the village, they all said they didn't know."

  "What about the culprit Zhao? Does she admit it?"

  "She never admitted to this. Only admitted to killing the child, saying it was because the child was disobedient, she pushed the child, the child fell and hit its head on a rock, resulting in death. She was very scared, so she used a kitchen knife to dismember and dump the body."