Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

"Knock knock..."

There came a knock from outside the mediation room.

The Black police officer said, "Come in."

"Creak," the door opened.

Luke and Daisy walked in from outside.

The Black police officer asked, "What can I do for you?"

Daisy said, "My name is Daisy Miller, and I am Mr. Val Sullivan's lawyer."

Val was stunned.

Linda glanced at Daisy, then at Luke, with a thoughtful expression.

The Asian female officer said, "Good timing, we were just trying to broker a settlement between the two parties, but the negotiations are not going well. You'd better talk to your client."

Daisy said, "I will. I hope to speak with my client alone."

"No problem."

The Asian female officer stood up and said to the injured Black man, "Harbot Ross, come out with me. I'll take you to get your wounds treated."

The Black man stood up, glared at Val, and said, "It's no use who comes, you asshole will definitely go to jail."

The police officer took the Black man away, leaving only Luke and the others in the room.

Luke pointed at Daisy and introduced her, "This is my girlfriend, Daisy."

Then he pointed at Linda and Val, "My mom, and my uncle."

Linda smiled awkwardly and said, "Luke has always spoken of you, just didn't expect to meet under these circumstances, thank you for coming to help."

Daisy nodded with a smile.

Val appeared a bit uneasy, "Daisy, it's good to see you... it would be better if it weren't at such a time."

Daisy spoke earnestly, "Val, no need for pleasantries. As of now, I am your lawyer, and I hope you can trust me so I can help you."

"I will."

"Describe what happened at the time."

Val recalled, "That Black man named Harbot Ross is a scoundrel.

Within half a month, it was his third time robbing our supermarket.

He would always leave the supermarket in a mess after each robbery, and I had to recount the inventory, restock, and file insurance claims. I'd have to work overtime because of this."

Val sighed helplessly, "But we were powerless, just watching him rob the goods from the supermarket; the frustration is hard to describe.

I was fed up.

So this time I wanted to stop him.

This morning, he came to the supermarket to rob again. He walked out pushing his shopping cart without paying.

I tried to stop him.

He gave me the finger and cursed at me.

I held back my anger, simply holding onto the shopping cart, not letting him leave.

Then, he grabbed my neck and squeezed hard. I felt like I was going to suffocate, so I pushed him away with force.

He fell to the ground.

I went to check on him, and he started cursing at me and then spit on me.

It landed right on my face, and that's when I lost my temper and started hitting him while I was on top of him.

He deserved it."

Daisy pressed, "If what you're saying is true, you would have been acting in self-defense, and at most it would be considered mutual combat. Why is he accusing you of intentional assault?"

Val said somewhat gloomily, "It's all because of that damned security camera.

Harbot Ross is a habitual criminal; he knows where the blind spots of the cameras are. He pushed the cart towards the blind spot.

The spot where he squeezed my neck was right in the camera blind spot.

This bastard won't admit it.

And when I hit him, he screamed and yelled, and many passersby saw it.

So that bastard is framing me for intentional assault.

He's definitely premeditated."

Daisy asked, "How much worth of goods did he steal?"

"940 US dollars."

Daisy wrote down in her notebook, "What's the supermarket's stance where you work?"

Val shook his head, "It has nothing to do with the supermarket. It was my personal action."

"It's not as simple as you saying it's nothing. What is the stance of the supermarket?"

"After the incident, the supermarket manager approached me, saying the supermarket couldn't get involved, but that they would support me. They're willing to cover my legal fees to help clear my name."

Linda asked with concern, "Daisy, do you think a settlement is possible?"

After thinking for a moment, Daisy said, "That depends on what the other side wants. We can only take the initiative in the settlement if we understand his motives."

...

Ten minutes later.

At Daisy's suggestion, a second mediation was conducted.

The Black police officer and the Asian female officer brought in Harbot Ross, the supermarket robbery suspect, to the mediation room.

Differently this time, Val and Linda did not attend; instead, Daisy and Luke were present.

Harbot Ross questioned, "Wasn't it supposed to be a mediation? Why isn't the asshole who hit me here?"

Daisy said, "Mr. Sullivan has entrusted me to negotiate on his behalf. It's the same if you talk to me."

The Asian female officer nodded, "That's good, it spares the two of you from arguing."

Harbot Ross snorted, "Such an insincere guy, he's definitely going to jail."

Daisy asked, "Mr. Harbot Ross, why do you insist on sending my client to prison?"

"Because he hit me, committed a crime, shouldn't he go to jail?"

"And what about you?

Robbing a supermarket is also a crime, do you think you should go to jail?"

"I didn't rob anyone, I just forgot to pay."

"However, according to my client, he reminded you at that time, asking you to go back and pay."

"No, he didn't. At least, I don't remember it."

"Harbot Ross, there were more than just the two of you outside the supermarket, are you sure no one else heard it?"

Harbot Ross tapped his head, "I was dazed from the hit, I can't remember clearly."

"OK, even if you can't remember this time, what about the previous two times? According to my client, this was your third time robbing the supermarket, surely you can't have forgotten to pay all three times."

Harbot Ross was silent for a moment, then sighed, "I hate lawyers most in my life.

What you're saying is right, I didn't plan to pay because I have no money, I'm poor, I was starving.

I was about to starve to death, so I went to the supermarket and took some food; I didn't rob any money or anything valuable, just some food and daily necessities.

I was merely trying to survive.

If you think what I did was wrong and I deserve to starve to death, then arrest me.

I am willing to plead guilty."

This argument might not work in China, but in the United States, it's very compelling. Judges and juries will give lighter sentences when taking the circumstances into account.

Many people spread the rumor that robbing in America is not a crime, but no law has ever stated this.

It's just that California differentiates between misdemeanors and felonies, with misdemeanors usually resulting in sentences of less than one year and felonies leading to three to ten years of imprisonment.

In California, a robbery involving less than 950 US dollars is a misdemeanor with a one-year sentence.

Before the trial, if the suspect agrees to sign a 'guilty plea agreement', they can get a reduced charge, with just a fine of a thousand dollars.

It is tantamount to an indirect exoneration.

Some might feel this is condoning criminals.

There's no choice.

The laws of the United States dictate that a court cannot pass judgment on anyone without a jury, originally intended to protect human rights, but it was not anticipated that there would be too many criminals and the courts would be overwhelmed, with enforcement costs running high.

Americans are very economically rational. To reduce costs and increase efficiency, they adopted the plea bargain system.

As long as the suspect signs the plea bargain, the judge directly reduces the sentence—it's a judicial transaction.

California's zero bail is particularly severe. Besides the court factors, prisons also play a role; there aren't enough cells.

It costs 81 thousand US dollars to hold a suspect in California for one year, so if someone is in prison for ten years, the government has to spend 810 thousand US dollars to support them.

Of course, these costs include more than just the expenses of the prisoner; most of it is for prison management.

Californians are wealthy, but the government is relatively poor. Buckling under the burden, they can only choose to compromise.

Typically, with zero bail, as long as one signs the plea bargain, they'll be sentenced to probation plus a fine, serving their sentence at home.

This indirectly leads to worsening social morals.

Harbot Ross continued, "I admit I robbed the supermarket, but that's not a reason for him to harm me, I want to sue him!"

"According to my client, you were the one who grabbed his throat first, and he was just acting in self-defense."

"No, he's lying. I didn't grab his throat, he's framing me."

"Mr. Harbot Ross, as for what really happened, I believe you know very well.

Beyond yourself and my client, there were others outside the supermarket, are you sure no one else saw?

So, I suggest you settle, which would benefit everyone."

Harbot Ross was silent for a moment, "What are your terms for a settlement?"

"You may propose the terms."

"Give me a hundred thousand US dollars, and I'll agree to settle."

"Mr. Ross, I'm sincerely negotiating with you. My client is just an intern at the supermarket; do you think he can come up with a hundred thousand US dollars?"

Harbot Ross shrugged, "If he can't afford it, but the supermarket can. Let someone from the supermarket negotiate with me."

Daisy said, "My client mentioned that the decision at the time was his own and had nothing to do with the supermarket."

"How can it not be related? I was beaten by a supermarket employee, injured at the supermarket; they are also responsible," Harbot Ross said coldly,

"I've made it very clear, either compensate me with a hundred thousand US dollars or have the supermarket's representative negotiate with me, or let that bastard go to jail."

Harbot Ross stood up, "Officers, I don't think mediation is necessary. Let's just go sign the guilty plea agreement."

After the police took Harbot Ross away, Luke said, "Seems like the supermarket is this guy's real target."

Daisy nodded, "He knows there's no squeezing money out of Val, but the supermarket is different; if he wins the lawsuit, he could get a large sum of compensation from them." Daisy continued analyzing,

"From my experience, he wants to convict Val, then sue the supermarket in the name of an employee intentionally causing him harm.

The second possibility is that he's hoping the supermarket will proactively offer a settlement to avoid a trial, thereby obtaining a large settlement sum.

Regardless of the method, he stands to gain substantially."

"How can we help Val?" Although Luke had his own ideas, he still wanted to hear Daisy's opinion as he respected her expertise.

"I'll talk to the person in charge of the supermarket. They're definitely connected to this case.

If they are willing to pay for a settlement, I believe Harbot Ross would agree, and Val would be acquitted.

Of course, by doing so, Val might not be able to keep his job.

The other option is to find new evidence or a witness to prove that Val's actions were in self-defense.

If this can be proven, all problems will be resolved.

And Val would be able to keep his job too."

This matched with Luke's thinking, "You handle the negotiations with the supermarket, leave the rest to me."