None of them were at fault!
When it came to the court statements, each party at the trial had their own views on this point.
First came the accusing party.
The accusing party certainly wanted Lin Yong to receive more criminal punishment in this trial.
That would give them something to report to Cao Zhiwei, their major financial backer.
From the perspective of the appellant's side, namely Su Bai, he certainly needed to take responsibility for his client as well.
But regardless...
The key was to use the court statement, based on the legal facts and statutory circumstances, to influence the presiding judge's subjective judgment.
And have the presiding judge determine the sentence in this case.
At the judges' bench, Duan Qingshui continued:
"The prosecution will now give its court statement first."
The public prosecutor's court statement was very objective. "Presiding Judge, our statement is as follows."
"The prosecution believes that although Lin Yong bore some fault in this case, his purpose was not to make a profit, and the circumstances were minor, even negligible."
"Therefore, we believe that Lin Yong should receive a lenient sentence."
The public prosecutor's statement was simple and clear.
It was also based on the court's earlier findings.
He directly characterized the circumstances as minor, even negligible.
This left Fang Qi and Zhang Yuan of the accusing party with rather unfavorable expectations about the sentence Lin Yong would receive in this case.
However...
The same point still stood: since they were already in court...
As retained lawyers, regardless of the outcome, they certainly had to do their best.
At the very least, they had to make their position clear to their client.
When the presiding judge asked the accusing party to give its statement, Zhang Yuan spoke:
"Presiding Judge, our court statement is as follows."