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reporter/ li jianan

editor/shi aihua

lego fu and his wife hu jinhua who has limited mobility

on august 29, 2021, a police car carrying bailiffs from the longyou county court of zhejiang province and the legorich couple who were under execution suddenly crashed into the guardrail on the highway.

after the accident, the nearby traffic police only learned of the accident after receiving the rescue information, and were not informed of the cause of the accident when they arrived at the scene. nearly an hour later, the bailiff in the car reported the case.

several marshals testified that legoful, who was sitting in the back seat, pulled the steering wheel of the vehicle, which was moving at high speed, causing the vehicle to lose control. legoful denied the crime from beginning to end, saying that the accident was caused by the driver's improper operation.

during the first trial, his wife hu jinhua pleaded for her husband's innocence and submitted a complete recording of the eight hours before and after the incident to the tonglu county court of zhejiang province to prove that her husband did not grab the steering wheel, but the recording has never been accepted.

in the absence of video evidence such as law enforcement recorders and dashcams, the court accepted the testimony of the bailiff, and the dna typing of legoful was detected on the steering wheel. on june 24, 2022, the tonglu county court ruled that legoful was suspected of endangering public safety by dangerous means and was sentenced to four and a half years in the first instance. legoful appealed and the original verdict was upheld.

70-year-old le gaofu and his wife were dissatisfied with the verdict and have been appealing to this day. on august 9, 2024, the zhejiang provincial procuratorate responded that it had officially accepted the appeal in the case.

the road section where the judicial police car had a traffic accident

delayed reporting of police incidents

at around 7:30 am on august 29, 2021, tian junbo, a bailiff from the longyou county court of zhejiang province, and others found the hotel where the le gaofu couple were staying in hangzhou, and "said they would take us back to longyou to deal with the execution of the debt," hu jinhua recalled.

the debt was incurred because le gaofu contracted mountain land. le gaofu is a villager of baiban village, longzhou street, longyou county. he has contracted the forest and fruit farm of wenlin village, huzhen town, longyou county since 1999. in 2018, the reclamation project of wenlin village (forest and fruit farm) in huzhen town was approved by the longyou county government. the mountain forest contracted by le gaofu was lost during the land reclamation, and the couple reported that the project destroyed forest resources. in 2021, after the national forestry and grassland administration conducted an on-site inspection, the longyou county government revoked the project. however, the le gaofu couple has never received compensation for young crops.

during the period of contracting the mountain land, le gaofu and the longyou county agriculture and rural bureau had an agricultural contract dispute. on september 20, 2019, the longyou county court ordered le gaofu to compensate the longyou county agriculture and rural bureau 120,000 yuan. the le gaofu couple was willing to pay the compensation and promised to repay it after the government paid the compensation for the young crops.

over the years, the couple has been reporting the issue of young crop fees everywhere. at the end of august 2021, le gaofu pushed hu jinhua, who was in a wheelchair, to hangzhou to report the problem to the relevant provincial departments and request supervision of the local government to compensate for the "young crop loss fee." they did not expect to encounter "forced execution" by the longyou court in hangzhou.

at around 8 a.m. on august 29, 2021, facing the bailiffs who came to enforce the order, hu jinhua explained, "more than 300 acres of trees on my entire mountain were destroyed, and i didn't get a penny. now you want me to pay it back, but i can't." then, the two were taken into the police car by the bailiffs.

at around 9:30 a.m. that day, less than two kilometers from the tonglu exit of the hangzhou-xinjing expressway heading towards qiandao lake, the longyou county court police car lost control and crashed into the right-side guardrail of the expressway. the right front of the vehicle and the door were damaged. the occupants, including bailiffs jiang cancan and tian junbo, driver lin hairong, and le gaofu, were injured to varying degrees.

afterwards, bailiff tian junbo called the police and said that le gaofu, who was sitting in the back seat, suddenly stood up and pulled the steering wheel of the high-speed vehicle with his hands, causing the accident. le gaofu was taken back to the chengnan police station in tonglu county for investigation. on august 30, 2021, le gaofu was detained by the tonglu county public security bureau.

bailiff tian junbo was not the first to call the police.

an auxiliary police officer from the fifth brigade of the hangzhou highway traffic police hangzhou branch testified that at that time, he heard the highway rescue workers reporting on the walkie-talkie and then realized that there was an accident nearby. he rushed over to help maintain order and understand the situation at the first scene.

the auxiliary police officer said during questioning that after he arrived at the scene, no one mentioned the cause of the accident. after the group was taken away from the highway, he learned from an auxiliary police officer of longyou county court that "the accident was caused by the suspect grabbing the steering wheel". he immediately reported to a traffic police officer at the scene. after the traffic police officer briefly understood the situation and reported it, longyou county court policeman tian junbo reported the case. at this time, more than an hour had passed since the incident.

the police car involved

contradictory testimonies

when questioned, the driver of the longyou county court police car and two bailiffs both pointed out that le gaofu grabbed the steering wheel with both hands.

the driver of the police car of longyou county court testified that le gaofu had been talking to himself and suddenly said "let's die together", and then pulled the upper right corner of his steering wheel with both hands. he was holding the steering wheel with his left hand and his right hand was on the gear.

jiang cancan, a bailiff sitting in the passenger seat, testified that he saw le gaofu rushing over, grabbing the upper right corner of the steering wheel with both hands, and turning the steering wheel hard to the right, causing the car to lose control. jiang cancan also said that after hu jinhua saw her husband le gaofu grab the steering wheel, she accused him, "how could you do such a thing?", but le gaofu said on the spot that it was the court driver who was driving unsteadily and wanted to kill him.

hu jinhua, who was sitting next to legofu at the time of the accident, said her husband was sitting in the middle of the back seat and she felt as if the car braked suddenly and rushed forward. "legofu also rushed forward, but i didn't see clearly where his hands rushed to or where they touched."

le gaofu also confessed that he was not wearing a seat belt and was sleeping with his head tilted back when the car suddenly began to shake. "the driver slammed on the brakes and i was thrown forward." he had to support himself with his hands on the back of the passenger seat, and his left thigh was also hurt.

le gaofu denied pulling the steering wheel, "i was saving my life. my wife was in the car. how could i joke about my wife and my life?" after the car accident, he even helped his wife up.

from the beginning to the end, le gaofu was unwilling to sign a confession and admission of guilt, saying, "i am innocent and i am a victim."

in the end, the driver and the bailiff's testimony that legofu grabbed the steering wheel was accepted, and the tonglu county police also identified legofu's dna typing from the steering wheel swab. the evidence in the case shows that the investigation agency did not extract legofu's dna from the steering wheel of the accident vehicle on august 29. on august 30, the sample was extracted again and legofu's dna typing was detected. at this time, the vehicle had been stored by the longyou county court and returned to the local auto repair shop.

on september 6, 2021, the tonglu county public security bureau applied to the procuratorate for the arrest of legofu. the public security bureau believed that legofu suddenly got up from the middle seat in the back row and pulled the steering wheel with both hands, causing the steering wheel of the high-speed vehicle to lose control and the vehicle hit the right guardrail. legofu was arrested on september 13, 2021. on october 29, 2021, the tonglu county public security bureau transferred legofu to the tonglu county procuratorate for review and prosecution on suspicion of endangering public safety by dangerous means.

on december 21, 2021, the tonglu county procuratorate filed a public prosecution.

on august 29, 2021, the bailiffs of longyou county people's court went to hangzhou to "enforce" the legofu couple.

8 hours of recording

on january 7, 2022, the first trial of the case was held.

the legal aid lawyer at the first instance believed that there were major contradictions between the testimonies of the bailiffs and others and the statements of the legofu couple; no fingerprint evidence was extracted during the on-site investigation, and the detection of legofu's dna typing could not directly prove that legofu had grabbed the steering wheel. the two bailiffs had physical contact with legofu, and there would have been physical contact during the collision, and it was inevitable that legofu's hair would remain on the steering wheel; there was no video evidence such as law enforcement recorders and driving recorders in this case; the facts of the case were unclear and the evidence was insufficient.

six days later, hu jinhua submitted an 8-hour audio recording as evidence to the tonglu county court. hu jinhua said that because of long-term petitioning and rights protection, she had developed the habit of recording in order to preserve evidence and protect herself. early in the morning of august 29, 2021, when she heard the bailiff of the longyou county court knocking on the door, she started recording with her mobile phone, which happened to record the whole process before and after the incident. when the trial opened on january 7, 2022, she went to the court with a recorder containing a copy of the recording, planning to submit it in court as a witness, but she was unable to hand it in because she was not summoned.

the public prosecution agency raised objections to the authenticity of the recording submitted by hu jinhua after the first hearing of the first instance, and the court commissioned an appraisal agency to conduct an appraisal.

on march 31, 2022, the appraisal agency replied to the tonglu county public security bureau that "due to the limitations of existing materials and the lack of original recording equipment, it is impossible to conduct an appraisal of the entrusted matters." li xianfeng, the appeal agent of le gaofu, told deepin that the first instance court did not inform hu jinhua of the relevant situation, nor did it ask her to supplement the materials or ask whether to re-appraise.

hu jinhua provided the on-site recording to deep dive, which recorded the entire process from longyou county court staff going to the hotel to take the two away, the traffic accident, and hu jinhua being sent back to longyou county. the recording was made by her on her mobile phone. combined with hu jinhua's recollections, it can be heard from the on-site recording that before the accident, longyou court bailiff tian junbo, who was sitting on the left side of legoful, was snoring in the car, and the driver lin hairong said "hello" and seemed to be making a phone call, and then the sound of tires rubbing against the ground, the vehicle shaking and colliding was heard.

tian junbo and the le gaofu couple both asked, "what happened?" then the le gaofu couple groaned in pain, and hu jinhua was helped up by le gaofu. the two accused, "why are you driving like this?" le gaofu complained, "hey, on the highway, driving like this? are you trying to get me out on purpose?"

the on-site recording showed that when the accident happened, le gaofu did not say threatening words such as "let's die together", and hu jinhua did not accuse her husband of grabbing the steering wheel.

after the accident, the driver and the bailiff did not refute legofu's accusation, nor did they accuse legofu of grabbing the steering wheel. legofu's family and defense lawyers all believed that this was inconsistent with normal life experience.

in the recording provided by hu jinhua, le gaofu complained to the first traffic police auxiliary police officer, "they drove carelessly." the auxiliary police officer told him, "no one can guarantee 100% safety when driving." later, when questioned by the police, the auxiliary police officer explained, "i was trying to appease the other party and didn't hear what he said at all."

after hu jinhua submitted the audio recording evidence, the investigative agency conducted additional investigations and took statements from tian junbo and several other bailiffs on april 12, 2022. at the second hearing of the first instance, the testimonies of several people were used to prove that before the accident, the driver lin hairong did not have physical contact with legoful, and the two bailiffs tian junbo and jiang cancan who had contact with legoful did not touch the steering wheel.

the defense lawyer of the first instance court disagreed with the testimonies of the driver lin hairong and the two bailiffs, and submitted several audio recordings and edited transcripts as evidence. he believed that the testimonies of the three persons could not exclude the possibility that the driver lin hairong had physical or indirect contact with lego fu, and that the three persons, as court staff, had a vested interest in the person to be executed, lego fu, and made false statements, and that their testimonies should not be accepted.

however, the on-site audio recording evidence was not taken seriously. the appeal attorney told deepin that he reviewed the case materials and found that the audio recording evidence was not presented and displayed in detail during the first trial, and le gaofu did not express any opinion on the cross-examination.

accompanied by her family, hu jinhua appealed for her husband in a wheelchair

the appeal was accepted

ultimately, the first-instance court determined that the testimonies of the driver and bailiff of longyou county court corroborated each other and were sufficient to be accepted. in addition, legoful's dna typing was detected on the steering wheel, and the evidence in the case was sufficient to confirm the fact that legoful had snatched the steering wheel of the car.

after trial, the court held that legoful suddenly grabbed the steering wheel of a car traveling at high speed, causing the car to lose control and hit the highway guardrail, resulting in injuries to the people on board and damage to the vehicle; although the case ultimately did not cause serious consequences, the highway has a large volume of traffic and high speeds, and the loss of control of a vehicle traveling at high speed is very likely to cause a major traffic accident, seriously endangering the life, health and property safety of unspecified people.

on june 24, 2022, the tonglu county court ruled that le gaofu was guilty of endangering public safety by dangerous means and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison. in the first-instance judgment, there was no mention of the on-site recording evidence submitted by hu jinhua. in response, le gaofu raised strong doubts in his appeal.

le gaofu's second-instance defense lawyer believed that the first-instance judgment did not mention the key evidence of the on-site recording, which was obviously wrong. the first-instance court's commissioned appraisal procedure was illegal, and the reason for the appraisal agency's refusal to conduct the appraisal was untenable. during the second trial, he applied for a re-appraisal, but was not supported by the hangzhou intermediate court.

the hangzhou intermediate people's court held that the recording submitted by hu jinhua had been legally entrusted by the first instance court to a qualified appraisal agency for authenticity appraisal. the appraisal agency issued materials stating that it was unable to conduct an appraisal. the content of the recording submitted in the second instance was consistent with the content of the recording already submitted, and could not achieve the purpose of proving the authenticity of le gaofu's defense.

on september 7, 2022, the hangzhou intermediate court upheld the original verdict in the second instance. le gaofu's wife hu jinhua was dissatisfied with her husband's verdict and appealed to the hangzhou intermediate court, zhejiang high court, and hangzhou procuratorate, all of which were rejected. on july 22, 2024, le gaofu and hu jinhua submitted a letter of appeal to the zhejiang provincial procuratorate. on august 9, the zhejiang provincial procuratorate replied that it had officially accepted the appeal in the le gaofu case.

now, the legofu couple have submitted the mobile phone containing the original recording as physical evidence and new evidence and applied for judicial appraisal.

le gaofu's appeal lawyer further added that le gaofu basically does not have the physical conditions and ability to snatch and turn the steering wheel. in 2011, after the 57-year-old le gaofu was involved in a traffic accident while driving a motorcycle, he suffered fecal incontinence and had to wear diapers. his right little finger and ring finger were comminuted fractures. his wife hu jinhua said, "i can't make a fist with my right hand, and i can't use my strength. i can't hold chopsticks and spatulas firmly at home, and i often drop them." le gaofu also does not have a car driver's license and cannot drive a car. le gaofu's right ring finger and little finger often hurt. even though he is serving a sentence in prison now, he still has to spray medicine every day to relieve the pain. on september 3, 2024, when the lawyer met with him, le gaofu had plasters on the palms and backs of his hands.

the 8-hour recording provided by hu jinhua also recorded the embarrassing scene that le gaofu, 67 years old at the time, experienced due to incontinence. on august 29, 2021, in a hotel in hangzhou, he repeatedly asked to go to the court to handle the case on his own. without the consent of the longyou county bailiff, le gaofu had to tell the truth, "i have feces on myself now, what can i do?" hu jinhua then explained that "le gaofu was wearing diapers."

afterwards, the two were taken to a police car. an hour and a half later, a car accident occurred, and legofu became the criminal who grabbed the steering wheel. hu jinhua, his wife, suffered a fractured right knee in a car accident in 2011, and became disabled for life. she needs to use a wheelchair to travel and is completely dependent on her husband for care. after her husband was imprisoned, she has insisted on appealing for him to this day.

after receiving the news that her appeal was accepted, hu jinhua regained her confidence. on august 29, 2024, three years after the incident, she and her family went to the zhejiang provincial procuratorate to discuss the case. seeing some hope, she was determined, "i will appeal to the end even if i am in a wheelchair."