When the people watching the live-stream saw the lawyer stand, all of them started ranting in the comments.
“That lawyer has no conscience! How can he help the Smiths in this lawsuit? Who knows how much money the Smiths have given him?”
“I heard that lawyer has never lost any of his cases. He’s definitely gonna lose the one today,
right?”
“Mr. Lawyer, can you have a bit of a conscience? How can you help the Smiths bully a weak and helpless woman? I am so disappointed in you!”
“I hope the lawyer dies together with his whole family!”
Hillary and her attorney next to her were also paying attention to the happenings online.
In addition, there were also people constantly keeping the judge up-to-date about the people’s opinions. After all, he had to take the people’s opinions into consideration, too.
The judge sighed when he heard that everyone was taking the plaintiff’s side.
It would probably be very difficult for the defendant to win the case this time!
While he was thinking about it, the defendant’s attorney said, “Your Honor, members of the jury. First of all, I would like to explain the relationship between my client and the plaintiff.”
He walked out from behind the desk, looked at Hillary, and said, “According to my investigations, Mr. Joel Smith and Ms. Tanya Turner have been in love since they were in junior high, and their relationship continued even after they entered college. They are recognized by everyone as a model couple. Mr. Smith and Ms. Turner’s classmates can testify to this. The plaintiff will not deny this, right?”
Hillary narrowed her eyes.
Her attorney stood up and said, “That has nothing to do with the case. After all, a lot of people’s first relationships do not last. Does every spouse have to give way to their partner’s first love just because they have returned? Be it true love or his inability to forget his previous lover, it is no reason or excuse for Mr. Smith to cheat on and betray Ms. Jones!”
His answer was very well-worded. A whole row of thumbs-ups appeared in the comments.
“That lawyer said it! No matter what, they have already broken up back then. To put it bluntly, even if Jones was the third wheel in Turner and Smith’s relationship back then, the two of them have already had a child together. Tanya Turner shouldn’t have come back!”
“I’ve just imagined a big story about Turner coming back for revenge!”
“Don’t say any more. Let’s listen to them instead. What if the reason for Turner and Smith’s breakup back then wasn’t Jones?”
Almost at the same time the comment appeared, the defendant’s attorney said, “Of course. My client requested that I make this clear in the courtroom in front of the judge and everyone in the country because he doesn’t want Ms. Turner to be called a third wheel.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer couldn’t help but laugh when he heard what he said. He looked straight at the judge and said, “Objection, Your Honor. That has nothing to do with the case. What we are here to talk about is Ms. Mia Smith’s custody, and not who the real third wheel of their relationship is!”
Tanya, who was seated in the defendant’s dock, was surprised.
She turned and looked at Joel.
The two of them had agreed that they would immediately lay out sufficient evidence at the beginning of the trial, and change her status from the defendant to the plaintiff. She hadn’t expected her attorney to actually walk out and say something like that.
Was Joel… trying to clear her name?
The plaintiff’s attorney looked at the defendant’s attorney, as well as Joel and Tanya who were seated in the dock. He said, “Even if my client had been the third wheel in your relationship back then, she did not break the law! Moreover, she even gave birth to a daughter for Mr. Smith. As a mother, she has the right and duty to raise her child!”
The defendant’s attorney looked straight at the judge. “Your Honor, I mentioned the past because this case can no longer be looked at normally. Humans are creatures of emotion. When everyone is censuring my client, I have the right to defend them. I ask the court for permission to explain things clearly to everyone.”
The judge looked at Hillary, and then at Tanya and Joel. At last, he nodded. “Permission granted.”
The defendant’s attorney looked straight at Hillary. “You were the third wheel in Mr. Smith and Ms. Turner’s relationship back then. Do you admit to this?”
Hillary curled her lips disdainfully. “They were just dating back then. It’s not like they were married, so you can’t say that I was the third wheel at all! Mr. Smith and I were also really in love back then!”
“Is that so?” The defendant’s attorney couldn’t help but smile. “But as far as I know, even though you claim that you have given birth to a daughter for Mr. Smith, the two of you did not become engaged or hold a wedding. Moreover, Mr. Smith also signed an agreement with you back then. The agreement says that once Ms. Mia Smith is five years old, Mr. Smith will terminate his marriage agreement with you, and the two of you will regain your respective freedom. Accordingly, the Smiths will take care of the Joneses’ business during those five years. Once the agreement is terminated, Ms. Mia Smith’s custody is to go to Mr. Smith. Therefore, can I interpret this as a transaction, except that Ms. Jones intends to go back on her word?!”
Hillary was rendered speechless.
The people in support of Hillary in the comments were also stunned. For a while, they didn’t quite know what to say.
“In that case, it seems that the Smiths aren’t in the wrong?”
“But isn’t it too much to prevent the mother from seeing her daughter?”
The plaintiff’s attorney stood up. “The relationship between a mother and her daughter cannot be described as a transaction. Ms. Jones is not a surrogate mother! That agreement was illegal from the start! Besides, as Ms. Smith’s mother, Ms. Jones has visitation rights!”
He glanced at Hillary.
Hillary immediately got the hint.
Before they came here, the two of them had already discussed how they should deal with the agreement. Hillary immediately started to weep. “Yes, that’s why I want to ask the court for help in mediation. It was my first time being a mother back then. The Smiths are too powerful, so I had no other choice. But during the last five years where my daughter and I were dependent on each other, we have already developed strong feelings for each other. How can one control their own emotions? Your Honor, what kind of agreement can stop a mother from seeing her own children?”
She then started to cry bitterly. “Please, Mr. Smith, give me a way out! I’ve already fallen into depression because I can’t see my daughter!”
The plaintiff’s lawyer immediately produced a diagnostic report for depression. “This is my client’s diagnostic report. She misses her daughter too much. I hope the court can be considerate toward her difficulties.”
At the sight, everyone in the comments suddenly started to sympathize with Hillary again.
“The Smiths are simply too cold-blooded! The richer people are, the more domineering they become! They don’t care for people’s feelings at all! How can they let the child grow up in a family like that?!”.
“Exactly! It is not right to stop a mother from meeting her daughter! How can they do that?!”
“The Smiths are too much!” “The child’s mother is already depressed. She’s so pitiful. She just wants to see her child, what’s so wrong about that?”
“Who knows, maybe the Smiths had threatened her into signing the agreement back then!”
“My god, look at where the defendants are! Turner and Smith are completely expressionless even when they saw Jones crying so badly! They are so heartless! Capitalists are the worst!”
“Yes, they are too inhumane! The child may not understand anything right now, but she will hate them once she grows up and realizes the truth!”
Everyone’s words and the stances they took were conveyed to the judge.
The judge glanced at the defendants. They had completely lost the public’s support.
However, at the defendant’s dock, Tanya was still glaring at Hillary furiously while Joel was expressionless. Even their attorney looked completely calm as if he was not moved by Hillary’s cries at all.
He lowered his gaze and asked, “The defendants, what else do you have to say?”
Joel and Tanya exchanged a look.
Tanya had a firm look in her eyes, but her eyes were gradually turning red.
Joel turned to the attorney and nodded at him.
Following the nod, the defendant’s attorney suddenly walked out from behind the desk and looked at the judge. “Your Honor, I have a piece of evidence I’d like to submit.”
The judge nodded.
The defendant’s lawyer handed over two documents.
The judge was shocked when he saw the documents, and his expression changed drastically. He glanced at Tanya with a complicated look in his eyes, and then looked at Hillary with a frown. Disgust flashed across his eyes.
In the comments, everyone was speculating. “What evidence is that? It actually made the judge’s expression totally change.” “Oh no, the way he’s looking at Smith and Turner isn’t that cold anymore. Could it be that they didn’t submit evidence but a check just now?” “How can they bribe the judge so openly? They are too much!”
Hillary glanced at the comments out of the corner of her eye. When she saw that all the comments were siding with her, the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
However, it was at this moment that the defendant’s attorney slowly said, “Your Honor, members of the jury. On behalf of my client Ms. Tanya Turner, I shall now file a lawsuit against Ms. Hillary Jones for maliciously stealing Ms. Turner’s child five years ago!! This led to my client being separated from her daughter for as long as five years. May the law impose the most severe sanction on Ms. Jones! I demand that Ms. Jones compensate my client for emotional damages, as well as damages for material losses incurred while searching for her daughter for the last five years!”
His words caused a furor to go through everyone!!
