Dehehantong's successful mitigating defense: A Comprehensive Consideration of Evidence Mining and the timing of guilty plea and acceptance of punishment
01 Introduction
In this case, A was found to have defrauded the victim of a total of over 780,000 yuan by using false orders. According to Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Person A is found to have defrauded others of an especially huge amount of property and may face a prison term of more than ten years. After the continuous efforts of the defense attorney, A was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined 50,000 RMB. This verdict demonstrates the precision of legal application and the effectiveness of defense strategies.
This article analyzes a fraud case handled by Lawyer Zhang Hongmei from Dehehantong Shanghai office, exploring how defense lawyers can strive for reasonable and fair legal outcomes for their clients through precise legal analysis and effective defense strategies in such cases. At the same time, it provides references and inspirations for the defense of similar cases.
02 Case Background
From July to October 2024, criminal suspect A defrauded Victim B of a total of over 740,000 yuan by forging purchase contracts, application forms for purchased materials and other means, fabricating the fact that goods were supplied due to business needs. From February to March 2025, they defrauded victim C of a total of over 45,000 yuan by falsely claiming that the shipment needed to be postponed and demanding a refund of the payment in a similar manner. On April 10, 2025, after receiving A call from the police, Person A waited at the designated location for the police to arrive. After being taken into custody, he truthfully confessed to the above facts.
03 Legal Analysis of Fraud
(1) Legal basis
According to Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, those who defraud public or private property in a relatively large amount shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or solely be fined. Where the amount involved is huge or there are other serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined. Where the amount involved is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have his property confiscated.
In this case, A's actions meet the constituent elements of the crime, and the amount of property defrauded from others is particularly huge. He should be held criminally responsible for the crime of fraud.
(II) Elements of the crime
1. Objective aspect: Person A committed the act of defrauding others of their property by fabricating facts and concealing the truth. Taking advantage of his position as A company's purchaser, he placed orders with suppliers by forging false purchase contracts. Later, he asked the suppliers to return the order money on the grounds of deferred delivery. The suppliers, based on the erroneous understanding of A's deceptive behavior, returned the full payment, resulting in actual economic losses.
2. Subjective aspect: Person A has the subjective intention to defraud others of their property. To meet the needs of personal daily life and repay the overdue high-interest loans, he took advantage of his convenient identity as a company purchaser and actively sought illegal profits through fraudulent means, with the aim of illegal possession.
3. Regarding the outcome: A's actions caused two victims to suffer huge economic losses, seriously infringing upon the property rights of citizens.
04 Formation and Selection of Defense Strategies
(1) Sorting out facts and evidence
The defense attorney conducted a comprehensive review and verification of the facts and evidence of the case. After multiple meetings with A and A meticulous comparison of the evidence in the case file, including A's confession, the victim's statement, witness testimony, and electronic data, the defense found that although A had committed the act of defrauding the supplier's property by fabricating facts and concealing the truth, the actual amount of fraud was not the 780,000 yuan or so determined by the investigation authority and the public prosecutor's office. Specifically, before the incident, A had already returned 220,000 yuan and 45,000 yuan respectively to the victims B and C. According to the judicial interpretation, when specifically determining the amount of fraud crimes, the amount of money defrauded that had been recovered before the case was discovered should be deducted, and the final actual amount obtained through fraud should be calculated.
(2) Defense exploration of sentencing circumstances
1. Self-surrender circumstances: While A was still under general investigation and questioning by the public security authorities, he received a call from the police and waited at the designated location for the police to arrive. After being taken into custody, he truthfully confessed his criminal facts. If the circumstances of self-surrender as stipulated in Article 67, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China are met, the punishment may be mitigated or reduced.
2. Guilty plea and Acceptance of Punishment: If A voluntarily confesses and accepts punishment, according to Article 15 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, he or she may be given lenient treatment in accordance with the law.
3. Making compensation and obtaining the victim's forgiveness: After being arrested, Person A actively made compensation and obtained the victim's forgiveness, indicating that he has a positive attitude of admitting guilt and showing remorse. Therefore, he may be given a lighter punishment at the discretion of the court.
(3) The timing of pleading guilty and accepting punishment
In criminal cases, the time span for the law to allow the signing of a guilty plea and acceptance of punishment covers multiple stages. It is not the case that signing a guilty plea and acceptance of punishment at a certain stage is the most beneficial. The choice of when to sign should be made based on the actual communication situation.
If, during the review and prosecution stage, an ideal sentence acceptable to the parties involved, their families and the lawyer is reached through communication and negotiation, it can of course be signed. If there are significant differences regarding the nature of the case, the determination of facts, and sentencing recommendations during the review and prosecution stage, especially when the facts or evidence of the case are not solid, it may be more advantageous to sign during the trial stage. In this case, the defense attorney, based on the communication situation at each stage of A's case, properly chose a favorable opportunity to plead guilty and accept punishment.
05 Court Judgments and Outcomes
After the efforts of the defense attorney, the defense opinion was eventually adopted. The sentence for defendant A has been adjusted from the proposed eight years and six months in prison and a fine to a sentence of four years and six months in prison and a fine of 50,000 RMB.
The judgment states:
1. Determination of the charge: Based on the facts and evidence of the case, A's actions meet the constituent elements of fraud.
2. Sentencing basis: Taking into account A's self-surrender, attitude of pleading guilty and accepting punishment, as well as the circumstances of making compensation and obtaining the victim's forgiveness, the sentence shall be mitigated in accordance with the law.
06 Case Summary and Implications
In this case, there has been a significant change in the term of imprisonment corresponding to the facts determined at the arrest stage to the term of imprisonment corresponding to the facts determined in the final judgment. The prosecution opinion and the indictment determine that A committed fraud, defrauding the victim of over 780,000 yuan, which is an especially huge amount and may result in a prison sentence of more than ten years. After the defense attorney's meticulous review of facts and evidence, in-depth exploration of sentencing defense points, and selection of favorable opportunities for guilty plea and acceptance of punishment, A's actions were ultimately determined to meet the constituent elements of fraud, with the amount of fraud amounting to over 500,000 yuan. Considering various sentencing circumstances comprehensively, a was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined 50,000 yuan.
This verdict is not only significantly lower than the eight years and six months sentence corresponding to the indictment, but also reflects the fairness and flexibility of the law, providing an important reference for the defense of similar cases.
