A Nepalese female security guard was ticketed for accidentally crossing the road on Tai Tam Road in 2016. She denied the charge. The trial scheduled for 2 days took 91 days to complete, and she was finally found not guilty. She was the temporary special committee referee at the time At that time, the judge He Liming even asked the two defense lawyers to pay 620,000 yuan in legal costs.
The two lawyers appealed the decision on the costs. The court of appeal revoked the decision on the costs made by He Guan earlier, and the two lawyers did not have to pay the 620,000 yuan.
The two lawyers applied to the court earlier, asking the court to change the order that the prosecution should bear the costs of the appeal. The court of appeal issued a written judgment today (28th), reiterating that even if the court ruled that He Guan decided to take sides earlier, the two lawyers in the original trial The behavior is completely unacceptable and not conducive to the upholding of justice. The two also constituted a waste of court time and resources, so their application was dismissed.
The appellants are barrister Liang Yaoxiang and lawyer Hou Zhenhui, both of whom are the legal representatives of Nepalese female defendant Thapa Kamala.
The judgment quoted that He Guan ruled in the original trial that the two appellants need to pay a total of 620,000 yuan for "wasted legal costs" to the prosecution.
They lodged an appeal, which was ruled in September this year, but no order was made for costs arising from the appeal.
The pair filed a further application asking the court to order the prosecution to pay the costs of the appeal and the costs of disposing of the "wasted costs".
Lawyer Hou Zhenhui (right) representing the female defendant.
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The case of accidentally crossing the road was tried for 91 days. The officer and the lawyer did not try their best to manage the case. The prosecution and the defense were not awarded legal fees. The defendant accused Zheng Ruohua and others of malicious prosecution to pay 6 million in compensation [Accidentally crossing the road case] The defendant was exonerated and the defense sought legal fees to obtain the transcript of the recording. The case of accidentally crossing the road for a day was tried on the 91st. Ye Liu inquired with the Judiciary Administrator To be shut down?
[Accidentally Crossing the Road Case] Hearing 91 days, the defendant was acquitted and asked for 7-figure legal costs
It is said that the behavior of two legal representatives arguing with He Guan is unacceptable and should be held accountable for wasting court time and resources
Chief Judge Pan Zhaochu, Judges Peng Weichang and Peng Baoqin pointed out in their judgment today that, as the decision issued by the Appellate Court earlier, the behavior of two legal representatives to argue with He Guan and insult He Guan is completely unacceptable and is not conducive to the upholding of the law. just.
Even though Ho Kwan and the prosecution contributed to the delay, the two legal representatives are still responsible for wasting court time and resources.
In addition, the defense excessively delayed repeated cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, summoned innocuous defense witnesses, etc.
The three judges made it clear that the appellate court had made it clear at the time that the approval of Liang and Hou's appeal did not mean that they agreed with their performance in the original trial.
The judgment continued that Leung and Hou asked the court to change the order of costs in an attempt to rationalize their behavior at the time, which was tantamount to a new appeal, which was not allowed by the court.
The Court of Appeal ruled that He Guan decided to be partial, but at the same time also believed that Liang and Hou had indeed caused a waste of court time and resources, so they rejected their application and ordered them to pay legal costs for this application.
Case number: HCMA309/2020