The Mad Prosecutor Picked Up AI - Chapter 135



Only Krnovel

Episode 135 It’s Not 3 Years, It’s 10 Years

Outside the window, I could see the clear sky, the four-lane road with cars zooming by, and even the shops on the other side of the road.

[There are no trees, so there is nothing to block the view.]

‘That’s right.’

Originally, it would have been obscured by thick foliage and branches, but now it was covered with dead trees, so the view was clear.

Hmm. Maybe?

Was the reason the tree was killed not to dig into the ground, but to get a better view out the window?

I paid a little more attention and scanned the shops lining the street across the street. Right across the street was a real estate office. The doors and windows of the real estate office were covered with all sorts of advertisements.

Next to it was a pharmacy. A man wearing a white gown was seen moving through a glass door with the word ‘medicine’ written in large letters.

There’s a bakery next to the pharmacy.

bakery?

I turned around and called out to Wi Jun-woo.

“Chief, you said Jaden was fined for attempted home invasion before?”

“yes.”

“Do you know the name of the victim, the person who lived in the house that Jaden was trying to enter?”

“wait a minute.”

Wi Jun-woo took out his cell phone and started looking for something. I saw him and asked him.

“Is the victim’s name Yena?”

“Oh, that’s right. How did you know? It says Shin Ye-na.”

“I think this is probably a stalking case.”

I looked across the street at the bakery. Inside the bakery, I saw a woman wearing an apron, holding a tray of bread and displaying it.

The name of the bakery is ‘Yena Bakery’.

When I just looked at it, I could barely see the store sign or the shape of a person, but when Aliotta zoomed in, I saw a young woman who looked to be in her 20s or 30s.

Perhaps Jaden observed the woman from this spot. It’s hard to see clearly with the naked eye, but he may have used a telescope or binoculars or something like that.

“Is this stalking?”

He pointed to the bakery across the street to Wi Jun-woo, who approached him.

“The name of the bakery over there is ‘Yena Bakery.’”

“Is that Shin Ye-na’s store?”

“I’ll have to look into that, but I guess that’s likely?”

“So what the inspector said is… … .”

“Here, I killed the tree that was blocking my view so I could see Ms. Shin Ye-na better.”

“crazy.”

There’s a lot to do. I have to confirm that the bakery owner is indeed the victim of the attempted home invasion, Shin Ye-na, and I also have to compare Jayden’s fingerprints and DNA that I handed over yesterday with the envelope of money that Song Jong-beom has.

“Do you suspect that Jayden was stalking that guy here?”

“Maybe there’s something more to it.”

“If it’s more than that… … .”

Wi Jun-woo trailed off and opened his eyes wide. As a prosecutor, Wi Jun-woo knew very well how stalking could end in severe cases.

In the past, stalking wasn’t considered a crime. It wasn’t really harmful, and they were just following you because they liked you, so what could you do about it?

The law on punishment for stalking crimes was enacted in 2021. Before that, there was no basis for providing proper protection or punishing the perpetrators of stalking.

Stalking should be taken seriously because it can lead to bigger and more serious crimes. Usually, stalkers hover around the victim and observe them for a long time before committing the crime.

That means stalking has a high chance of leading to kidnapping, rape, robbery, and murder.

I said to Wi Jun-woo.

“Hurry up and contact Detective Sojin and tell him to secure Private Jayden. Send the police to Shin Ye-na to protect her as well.”

“yes.”

“And then we’ll immediately request a search and seizure warrant. Jayden’s house, his car, and his school. We might find things like a telescope or binoculars.”

“All right!”

* * *

After the search and seizure warrant was issued, everything went smoothly. Detective So Hae-jin was able to search the academy, Jayden’s house, and the car, and seize quite a bit of evidence.

An expensive camera capable of taking clear pictures of people from a distance was found in the car, along with some ominous evidence: duct tape, rope, a large garbage bag, cable ties, a knife, and more.

Pictures and videos taken while stalking Shin Ye-na were leaked from his home computer. He had been stalking her continuously for nearly a year.

Jaden, who was caught near the academy, was reportedly in possession of the prescription sleeping pill Zolpidem when he was arrested.

After the police investigation was over, the case was sent to the prosecution, and I, who was assigned the case, was waiting for Jayden in the office to conduct the suspect investigation.

“Jaden, you’re a real bad guy.”

I clicked my tongue as I looked over the investigation documents handed over from the police.

Jaden has been secretly in love with and pursuing Shin Ye-na for quite some time. She was a student who took classes at the academy, but she got tired of Jaden’s excessive attention and stopped attending the academy.

But Jaden persisted in following her. As it turned out, the reason Jaden was fined for a misdemeanor was because he went near Shinyeona’s house after drinking and yelled at her to come out.

Shin Ye-na, who had been living alone, got scared and moved into another friend’s house to live with them. This time, Jaden followed her to that house.

Knocking on the door in front of the house, grabbing the doorknob and turning it to open it. For that, he was fined again for attempted home invasion.

Aliotta asked curiously.

[At this point, couldn’t they have sent him to prison? It would have been good if they had punished him properly back then. Why didn’t they?]

‘Well, everyone has their own circumstances.’

The ‘Act on the Punishment, etc. of Stalking Crimes’ is a crime of non-punishment without consent. In other words, if the victim says, “I don’t want to punish that person,” the criminal cannot be punished.

Whether it was because he was heartbroken after seeing her cry and appeal for sympathy, or because he got down on his knees and begged that he would never do it again, or because he lied that he would soon be leaving Korea, it is unknown.

Anyway, Shin Ye-na wasn’t charged with stalking, and Jaden remained quiet for a while. At least on the surface.

Perhaps because he thought it was too dangerous to go there himself, he bought a high-performance camera and started taking pictures from afar.

Wi Jun-woo, who was looking at the case file next to me, said.

“At this point, the sentence will probably be pretty heavy, right?”

“The maximum sentence is three years in prison.”

According to the ‘Act on the Punishment, etc. of Stalking Crimes’, a person who commits a stalking crime is subject to imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 30 million won.

“Jaden has been stalking for quite some time, so I think the judge will hit him hard too.”

“But they won’t be easy either. When I was previously convicted of a misdemeanor for yelling or fined for attempted home invasion, I wasn’t charged with stalking.”

“ah.”

“Jaden might say, ‘See? She had feelings for him too,’ or, ‘You didn’t accuse her of anything back then, so her actions back then weren’t stalking.’”

“Is that really true?”

“The law is blind. Whether it’s a prosecutor or a lawyer, they can apply it to their own advantage.”

It would be nice if the law could catch and lock up bad guys as they were originally designed to do, but people are incredibly capable of finding loopholes in even the tightest of nets.

If a person with a lot of legal knowledge uses that knowledge to find loopholes and defend criminals, the criminal can be ‘legally innocent’ even after committing a crime. Or, if not, the sentence can be greatly reduced.

So everyone is trying to hire expensive lawyers, and the so-called ‘legal technicians’ are in charge.

I said to Wi Jun-woo, who looked slightly depressed.

“But don’t worry, Jayden, this guy is going to rot in prison for a long time.”

“Do you think I could get three years?”

“What’s 3 years? You should get 10 years.”

“Ten years? You said earlier that the maximum sentence was three years in prison.”

“That’s only when it’s stalking.”

Jaden didn’t stop at stalking, he went one step further.

When you see something, you want it, and when you catch it, you want to possess it. That’s human greed. When you look at the evidence from the car, it’s highly likely that this guy was planning a bigger crime.

“Blue tape, cable ties, and a knife. This guy must have planned this kidnapping and murder.”

All crimes are punished when they are actually committed. It is said that those who only conspire to commit a crime without actually committing it are not punished.

However, there are crimes that are punishable even if you attempted them and failed, or even if you did not attempt them but only prepared to attempt them.

One of them is murder.

Since it is a serious crime that takes a person’s precious life, even if you fail to kill a person, you are punished as attempted murder, and simply planning and preparing to kill a person constitutes conspiracy to commit murder.

“As you know, Chief, there is Article 255 of the Criminal Act. It is a crime of conspiracy to commit murder. You can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.”

“Oh. But can you prove that? It would be hard to prove it with just a piece of blue tape.”

“Who am I? Aren’t I the master of sending people to prison, the master of convicting them, Hyun Torai? I have to gather all the evidence I can find, and indict them with perfect logic that no one can find fault with. Even our hot guy Judge Sang Pink can’t help but fall for it, the maximum sentence is 10 years in prison, bang bang bang!”

“Hot guy, Sang Pink?”

“There is something like that.”

“Jayden NeBott. I’m going to kick your butt!”

I was laughing out loud with my chest out, but Wi Jun-woo quickly stopped me.

“Inspector, you have to be careful about that.”

“What?”

“These days, people are very sensitive about the human rights of suspects. You shouldn’t say things like that so carelessly.”

“You don’t have to do it when you’re listening.”

“If a bowl leaks inside, won’t it leak outside?”

Our manager, don’t worry about it.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Would you mind being careful? Your majesty, your mouth doesn’t open while covering people.”

“I’ll be more selective this time. Don’t worry, I told you.”

Even though I made a promise, Wi Jun-woo still didn’t seem to be at ease.

“Besides, even though this guy requested interpretation, it seemed like he understood all of our language the last time I saw him. You really, really, really need to be careful.”

“I know, I said so. Don’t you trust me? Soyoung, Soyoung, do you trust me?”

“… … .”

Kisoyoung looked at me with an expression that said it was the first time she had heard such an absurd question in the world.

It’s not just the prosecution’s reputation that’s the problem.

Why is my reputation like this?

“Yeah. Well, if both of you are like that, then I guess so. I’ll be really, really careful.”

By the way, I think Ki So-young was supposed to be the interpreter today. She’s not only good with computers, but she’s also good at English. She’s a real talent, a talent.

“Oh, Soyoung, will you be my interpreter today? I know you’re already very busy, so thank you.”

“I should do this much. I’m a bit busy, but-.”

“Oh, hello? I’m not busy at all right now. Why?”

I turned my head to see what was going on. Manager Han Jae-sik, who had been lying face down on his desk all morning, was suddenly up from his seat and was holding a cell phone.

“Oh, that new place? Of course I’ve been there. Are you going with the manager? How do you get there… … , but it’s a bit complicated to explain in words. I’ll go and tell you. Okay, okay. Right now? Okay, I’ll go right away. Oh. I’m not busy at all.”

Manager Han Jae-sik, who had just hung up the phone, picked up his suit jacket and spoke.

“I am now… … .”

Manager Han Jae-sik, who was about to speak, was startled when everyone’s sharp gaze was focused on him and closed his mouth.

“Our ‘Manager Who Is Never Busy’. Why does he answer the phone so cheerfully?”

“No, there. That’s not it.”

“What is that? A manager who isn’t busy at all?”

“Inma, when you become a manager, you tend to get called around here and there a lot.”

Manager Han Jae-sik slowly put on his suit jacket while observing our reactions.

“Hey, I have some work to do. I’ll be back in a bit. Well, everyone, take care.”

I clicked my tongue as I watched Manager Han Jae-sik leave the office naked.

What’s the matter? I got a call from the public servant manager and went to see the deputy manager Nam Woo-joong to ask him a question.

Tsk tsk. That’s why I said it’s all pointless.

I won’t let you go.