Although Deng Yujiao was still found guilty, the judgment included various mitigating circumstances and lighter sentencing, resulting in an exemption from punishment.

This case had a significant impact on judicial practice.

It also had an extremely detrimental influence on social norms for the following decade or more.

This led many people, when facing unlawful infringements, to not dare fight back.

For instance, if someone slapped Zhang San, Zhang San wouldn't dare to retaliate.

Winning the fight meant it was considered affray. Both parties would be detained, and the winner would have to compensate the other's medical expenses.

If he lost, he would have to take another beating, and the aggressor wouldn't bear any criminal responsibility.

This clearly showed a reluctance to defend oneself.

When facing violent crimes, more people chose to swallow their anger, fearing that a single punch might kill the attacker, and then they would have to kneel and beg the attacker not to die.

Deng Yujiao's case is a clear precedent.

She clearly could have been acquitted for justifiably exercising her right to unlimited self-defense. Instead, she was still convicted of intentional injury and negligent homicide, though exempted from punishment.

"The legislative intent behind the right to unlimited self-defense is to protect others' physical rights and must never be merely superficial."

"Therefore, I hope..."

Finally, Zhang Wei spent twenty minutes stating his side's arguments and then returned to the counsel table.

In the public gallery, Liu Mei and other women were utterly confused, as if they were hearing something indecipherable.

They hadn't understood a single word of the defense argument Zhang Wei had just presented.

It seemed to touch upon another case too.

"Has this lawyer gone off-topic? After saying so much, what exactly is this right to unlimited self-defense?"

"I don't care what the right to unlimited self-defense is! I just know that murder is met with death, and debts must be repaid—these are immutable principles!"

"Yes, today the court must sentence Huang Lan to death!"

"Lawyers truly are no good! He's probably trying to use such shameless tactics to get the charges dropped!"

"..."

Liu Mei and the others whispered among themselves, continuously exchanging their thoughts.

The more they thought about it, the more despicable they found Zhang Wei.

Their voices grew louder, attracting another warning from the bailiffs.

Qin Mu, sitting in a corner of the public gallery, listened to their exchange and shook his head helplessly.

In fact, Zhang Wei's defense was very impressive.

It revolved entirely around the right to unlimited self-defense, invoking classic precedents from more than a decade ago as corroborating evidence.

If the saying, "If you didn't hit them, why would you help them up?" led to a reluctance to perform good deeds, then the Deng Yujiao case directly caused victims to swallow their pride and not dare to fight back violently.

Although Deng Yujiao ultimately didn't go to prison, she was still found guilty, merely exempted from incarceration.

The court at that time, regardless of the circumstances, refused to acknowledge the justifiable exercise of the right to unlimited self-defense.

This led to a noticeable change in social attitudes over the past decade or so.

Meanwhile, at the prosecutor's bench, a prosecutor, after listening to Zhang Wei's defense, also stood up.

"We disagree with the opposing counsel's view that the conditions for the right to unlimited self-defense are met," he stated.

"Our prosecutor's office determined it to be excessive defense because we classified the wedding harassers' actions as unlawful infringement, not as a violent crime under the terms of the right to unlimited self-defense."

"The right to unlimited self-defense pertains to defensive actions taken against ongoing assault, murder, robbery, kidnapping, or other violent crimes that seriously endanger personal safety. If the perpetrator of the unlawful infringement is injured or killed as a result of such defensive actions, it is not considered excessive defense, and no criminal responsibility is borne."

"However, while the act of wedding harassment is reprehensible, it is not severe enough to be equated with violent crimes that endanger personal safety, such as murder, robbery, or kidnapping. It should, therefore, be regarded as unlawful infringement."

"Furthermore, Huang Lan carried a folding knife and stabbed repeatedly, inflicting nine wounds on Chen Quan."

"She could have simply brandished the folding knife and verbally warned the assailant to retreat. Instead, she engaged in excessive self-defense by stabbing repeatedly. Her actions should therefore be classified as excessive defense."

"Furthermore..."

The prosecutor calmly refuted Zhang Wei's defense points one by one.

Justifiable defense and excessive defense pertain to unlawful infringement. The right to unlimited self-defense, however, pertains to violent crime.

The nature of the two is different, and the acts they address are also entirely distinct.

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