The Mad Prosecutor Picked Up AI - Chapter 128



Only Noblemtl

Episode 128: The Tree Poisoning Incident

Also known as the street tree poisoning incident.

“Chief, this is a tree poisoning incident. Doesn’t it seem a bit strange?”

I looked over the case files from the police station and asked Wi Jun-woo.

“Is it strange? It’s just a normal incident.”

The incident occurred in front of a cafe. The building in question was a two-story commercial building, with the second floor rented out as a small office, and the first floor was remodeled three months ago by the building owner to run a cafe.

We had to clear a driveway to build a parking lot behind the building, so we had to remove two trees on the driveway side.

Sangjun Lee, the building owner and cafe owner, orders his cafe manager Jongbeom Song to buy and spray herbicide.

It was a simple matter of removing only two trees that had been approved by the district office, but for some reason, the three trees next to them also died.

The case was investigated by the local government upon the district office’s report, and the case was referred to the prosecution for prosecution. The reason for this was that the same herbicide ingredient was found on all five trees.

The high concentration of herbicide ingredient, more than 700 times the standard, raised reasonable suspicions that someone had sprayed the herbicide directly on the trees.

Given that five trees died on almost the same day, it is likely that the herbicide was sprayed on the same day, or at most within a day’s time difference.

“Isn’t Song Jong-beom the culprit? The police also see it that way. The CEO may have been a bit arrogant, but anyway, there is a motive for the crime.”

As Wi Jun-woo said, the most likely suspect was Song Jong-beom, who was working as a cafe manager.

The police also secured evidence that he had purchased herbicide and personally sprayed the herbicide on two trees, and based on this, they were looking at Song Jong-beom as the culprit.

But there was a fatal flaw here.

[After all, there is no direct evidence.]

‘yes.’

There is no way to prove that Song Jong-beom sprayed the remaining three trees with herbicide. No one saw it directly, and there is no CCTV in the cafe building to illuminate the road.

“There is no direct evidence that Song Jong-beom committed the crime. It is all circumstantial evidence. In a situation where there is no direct evidence, it is not right to prosecute. In good conscience.”

Manager Han Jae-sik, who had been typing feverishly, poked his head out from behind the monitor and said.

“Conscience? Did the swordsman have a conscience?”

“He is more conscientious than the manager who is fighting by suing netizens.”

“Inma, I’m not necessarily trying to sue you. It’s just that I’m really getting angry when I see this.”

“Then you don’t have to look at it.”

“Is that okay? I wonder what they say.”

Manager Han Jae-sik pouts and disappears behind the monitor again.

I looked through the case file and said to Wi Jun-woo.

“Looking at the case file, Song Jong-beom himself claims innocence. He says he sprayed a large amount of herbicide on the two trees, and it may have been absorbed into the ground, flowed through the sewer pipes, and flowed into the trees next to him.”

“Oh, so you’re saying it was a mistake?”

“That’s right. Since no one was injured or killed here, negligent homicide or manslaughter cannot be applied. At most, it’s a crime of destruction.”

If you accidentally hurt someone, you’re guilty of negligent homicide. If you accidentally kill someone, you’re guilty of negligent homicide. But right now, the person isn’t dead. The tree is dead.

When someone destroys someone else’s property, the crime that can be applied is destruction. However, destruction is different from negligent homicide or manslaughter.

Negligent homicide or negligent homicide is more serious when it is related to work. The fines and sentences are also much higher. The purpose is to make sure that people are careful when working so that they do not die or get hurt.

On the other hand, damage to property, not people, is different. Damage caused by mistakes made during work is usually not subject to the crime of destruction.

If that were possible, the company would have held new employees liable for damages every time they accidentally broke a copier or damaged a printer.

“As you know, sir, you can’t be held accountable for mistakes in a case of destruction.”

“Yes.”

“For example, if I were to accidentally break our manager’s monitor or cell phone while I was working, just by accident, you can’t sue me.”

Manager Han Jae-sik’s face appeared again behind the monitor.

“Why my cell phone?”

“It was a mistake anyway, so let’s not get too hung up on it. Anyway, if Song Jong-beom really killed these trees by mistake, he can’t be charged with destruction.”

Wi Jun-woo nodded and asked.

“Then, will you drop the charges?”

“I can’t do that again. As a prosecutor, I can’t believe everything a suspect says, right?”

“Then what are you going to do?”

I took a moment to collect my thoughts. What should I do? I said to Ki So-young, who was organizing the cases I had been assigned on her desk.

“Soyoung, please stop what you’re doing and start researching the data.”

“Go ahead.”

“Please find out if there are any cases where herbicide sprayed on a tree has washed into the ground and killed other crops or trees.”

“yes.”

“Where was the tree-related place? Oh, right. Please also inquire at the National Institute of Forest Science.”

“All right.”

Although Aliota is very familiar with the case law, it is better to learn about actual cases rather than case law. Since trials take much longer, there are many cases where the matter is resolved through negotiation without going to trial.

“Please also check if there are any cases where rainwater gets in and kills other trees nearby.”

“yes.”

“And please contact herbicide manufacturers and universities with agricultural departments to find out how herbicides kill trees and what effects they have when they flow to other places. You can also find papers or something like that for them.”

“yes.”

When I told Kisoyoung what to do, Wi Junwoo looked at me.

“What should I do?”

“It seems the police have already tested the herbicide content on the five dead trees.”

“yes.”

“Please check the other trees next to it for herbicide residue. Not just the trees, but the soil as well.”

“Even the dirt?”

“If the herbicide component flowed in because of the rainwater, it would have also flowed into other trees and the soil that were not dead yet.”

“All right.”

Song Jong-beom. Was it a mistake or was it intentional? I will make it clear!

“It would be nice if there was CCTV.”

If there were just a video of a person directly spraying herbicide on a tree, there would be no need to search for various materials or check the ingredients left in the soil.

Wi Jun-woo nodded, as if he had the same thought.

“It looks like there wasn’t anything in front of the store.”

“Any other stores nearby?”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Huh? This is what detective So-hae Jin investigated.”

I shouted happily when I saw the name written on the file that the police had handed over. Usually, police officers may not like it when prosecutors call and ask them questions, but Detective So Hae-jin would be happy to answer.

I quickly called detective Sojin.

“Detective, how are you?”

– Hey, you almost became my brother-in-law, inspector! What happened… … . No, no. No, senior. Hey! I didn’t say you were my brother-in-law! You almost became my brother-in-law… … Ugh! Ugh! I got it. I got it!

“Hello? Hello?”

‘What? Stop answering the phone.’

[I think I’m already being hit by Yeonhan.]

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then a voice was heard again.

– Inspector, how have you been?

“Are you able to talk now?”

– Yes! I avoided senior Miyeon and came out. Haha.

Yeah. You should watch your mouth a bit. You know it’ll be right, but you’re still saying the equation. Tsk.

“There was this incident where a tree was killed by herbicide. I was put in charge of it.”

– is it so?

“I’m looking at the data that came in, but I guess there’s no CCTV or anything?”

– Yes. There is a CCTV inside the cafe, but there was no footage of the street.

“What about other stores nearby? I think you can see them if you look at them from a wider angle.”

– It’s not exactly where the tree is, but there is a CCTV camera filming the street next to the accessory store…

Detective So Hae-jin continued speaking in an uncertain voice.

“What is it? What did you find?”

– I looked through all the CCTV footage in the hopes of grabbing at straws. Anyway, the tree side wasn’t even captured there.

I see your excuses are getting longer, but I think you’ve gotten something out of it.

“So, what was captured?”

– The night Song Jong-beom said he sprayed herbicide on the tree. A person passing by in front of it was caught on camera at dawn.

“Oh, man.”

– It could just be someone passing by. It’s hard to tell who they are.

“Can I see the screen? I don’t think it’s in the data that came over here.”

– I just left it out. I thought it wouldn’t have any evidentiary value anyway.

“Could you send me that screen? I’ll look at it and decide if it’s useful or not.”

– Yes, I understand. You might be able to find out something, sir.

After hanging up the phone, a file sent by Detective So Hae-jin arrived. It was a CCTV footage taken from the front of the store, facing the street.

As soon as I saw the screen, I could understand why Detective So Hae-jin had omitted this and handed over the data.

“You said it rained a lot that day.”

[Yes. They said it rained heavily from that afternoon all night.]

It seemed like the CCTV footage wasn’t that good to begin with, but the screen appeared even blurrier, perhaps because of the pouring rain.

Moreover, the person caught on screen was wearing a black raincoat and a hat pulled over his head, so it was impossible to see his face or what he was wearing underneath.

“Even if the person wearing that raincoat was our manager, I wouldn’t recognize him.”

“Huh? Me? Why me?”

“No. Go ahead and do your work.”

Manager Han Jae-sik, who had been sticking his head out from above the monitor, lowered his head again.

[He is physically different from Manager Han Jae-sik. The person on the screen is 176cm tall and weighs 72kg. Manager Han Jae-sik is a bit smaller.]

Oh, right. I had an aliotte.

With Aliotte’s help, we can salvage quite a bit from this crappy photo.

I looked at the screen again. The time the photo was taken was 3:02 AM. It was pouring rain at this hour, while everyone was asleep. Why was that person walking down the street?

Detective So Hae-jin said that he could have just been someone walking by.

It wasn’t a residential area, so you probably weren’t on your way home, and all the shops were closed, so there wasn’t really any reason to walk here at this hour.

‘I wish I could see your face. What a pity.’

[You can’t see his face, but you can tell he’s holding something in his left hand.]

‘On your left hand? Where?’

Not only is he not holding anything, but you can’t even see his left hand.

The raincoat was long enough to reach below the knees, and the sleeves were long and poncho-like, covering his hands, so he couldn’t see anything. What’s more, the image on the screen was of his right side. His left hand was hidden by his body, so it couldn’t be seen.

Aliotta said with a slightly smug look on her face.

[Isn’t that AI? Don’t you trust me?]

‘I don’t believe it. I do believe it, but I can’t see anything because of the raincoat.’

[The raincoat covers both hands and the torso. But if you look closely, the wrinkles on the right and left sides are different.]

‘wrinkles?’

[Don’t you know?]

‘I don’t even notice the wrinkles on my face because of you, so how can I know about the wrinkles on my raincoat that appear on the dark screen?’

That’s what he said, but I focused on the screen. Because Aliota was zooming in on the screen and showing it to me. When he showed me the red circles and arrows, I started to see a difference in my eyes.

So, on the right side, the wrinkles of the raincoat were just falling straight down, but on the left side, the wrinkles were slightly bent to the side.

[It means that you are holding something bulky in your left hand.]

‘That’s probably… … ?’

[We can’t know until then. Because we can’t see it.]

I was expecting to hear the words, ‘It’s a weed killer!’ so I was left feeling disappointed.

‘Don’t you know that? You’re talking about artificial intelligence?’

[Even if it’s artificial intelligence, how can it know something it can’t see? From here on out, Hyungwang has to figure it out.]

I farted.

‘Can you call it artificial intelligence when you don’t even know this? Artificial intelligence has improved so much these days, huh?’

[My skills are also quite outstanding.]

‘These days, AI can treat patients, draw pictures, and even write novels. Can you believe it? An AI that writes novels?’

[I am a law major, but if I do deep learning in creative writing, I might be able to write a novel. Last time, didn’t I create Hyungwang’s text using data on infidelity and love affairs?]

‘Ugh. It’s going to be hard to be a web novel writer from now on. What do I do now?’

[Why is Hyungwang worried about that?]

I know.

I’m so immersed.