Fortunate to Have You This Lifetime - Chapter 1008

Chapter 1008: Chapter 1008 Absurd? _1 Chapter 1008: Chapter 1008 Absurd? _1 Marcel Jefferson was quite pleased.

After a while, he felt something was off and couldn’t help but ask, “Was I unreliable when I was single?”

At this moment, the prosecution requested the second witness to testify, interrupting their conversation.

The second witness was a middle-aged woman whom the prosecutor introduced as an experienced psychiatrist who had treated Jane McCain several years ago, diagnosing her with sleep disorders, somnambulism, and so on.

“Objection.” Purple Summers stood up. “The witness’s testimony is irrelevant to this case.”

The judge looked at the prosecutor.

Ian Conner quickly said, “Your Honor, the defendant Jane McCain presents the facts of the crime as a fictitious story; I believe her psychological condition is closely related to this case, and the psychiatrist can prove this point.”

The judge declared, “Objection overruled.”

Purple Summers furrowed her brows and sat back down.

Marcel Jefferson couldn’t help but whisper, “Is this prosecutor stupid? If it were inferred that Jane McCain committed murder while mentally deranged, wouldn’t that be tantamount to acquittal?”

Mentally ill people who commit murder are not breaking the law because they are not considered legally competent persons, which means they have lost their civil capacity to act.

Purple Summers’s expression darkened slightly, “If his deduction succeeds, Jane McCain would indeed be released without charges. But how then do we accuse Dion Benson?”

In the courtroom, Ian Conner was questioning the psychiatrist.

“Do you recognize the person sitting in the defendant’s seat?”

“Yes.”

“Could you tell us how you know each other?”

“About… eleven years ago or so, her mother brought her to my clinic where I diagnosed her with somnambulism and treated her for about a month.”

“Can you explain the term somnambulism?”

“Certainly, somnambulism is the strange phenomenon of getting out of bed and moving around during sleep and then returning to bed to continue sleeping. In neurology, it is a sleep disorder, typically involving walking around in a semi-awake state within the dwelling, but some sufferers leave their dwelling or engage in risky activities.”

“Risky activities…” Ian Conner’s tone slowed as he pointed at Jane McCain. “Is it possible to kill someone without being aware of it?”

The psychiatrist nodded: “It’s entirely possible; some somnambulists exhibit violent behavior, and upon waking up, they have no knowledge of their sleepwalking.”

Ian Conner got the answer he wanted, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting as he turned to the judge, “That’s all my questions.”

It was Purple Summers’s turn for cross-examination.

“You just mentioned that you treated my client for a month. May I ask how many times?” Purple Summers inquired.

The witness replied, “Once a week, around four or five times in total.”

“How long was each session?”

“One hour.”

“After your treatment, did my client’s sleep disorder improve?”

The psychiatrist hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “Yes.”

Purple Summers continued, “So, after one month, she recovered normally, and treatment ceased, correct?”

“Yes…”
“To your knowledge, did my client engage in any violent behavior while sleepwalking during the treatment period?”

“No,” the psychiatrist said, uncomfortably glancing at Jane McCain.

“Did she harm anyone during her sleepwalking episodes?”

“No,” the psychiatrist attempted to clarify, “At the time, she was only nine years old…”

“Yes, she was only nine years old, having just suffered a series of traumatic incidents like the divorce of her parents and the remarriage of her father, which impacted her emotionally and psychologically, leading to sleep disorders.” Purple Summers turned to the jury, “But what does this have to do with the case at hand?

A psychiatrist who has only met my client five times, for a cumulative total of no more than five hours, based on a psychological diagnosis made eleven years ago, charges my client with murder!

My client exhibited no violent behavior during sleepwalking eleven years ago, but after being cured, the condition worsened, to the extent of committing and dismembering a murder unknowingly? Think about it, does it not sound absurd?”