Lawyer Lee Ming-yu (李明諭) has decided to quit as defending counsel for Kuo Yu-ling (郭玉鈴) and Kao Chun-chun (高淳淳), the mother and daughter defendants in the Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) sex-VCD case.
Lee said that that Kao's suicide attempt on May 12 was the main reason for him to quit. The attempt prompted him to consider whether he had acted in a way that was not good for the defendant.
Kao was taken to the emergency room of the Taipei Municipal Yang-ming Hospital at approximately 2am on May 12 after taking too many painkillers. She was released after five hours of medical treatment. The hospital said that Kao simply took too much headache medicine. Nevertheless Lee was shaken.
"It did shock me," he said. "Her being so emotionally fragile made me begin to think whether I should be involved."
According to Lee, Kuo and Kao's case is regarded a minor one by lawyers since the sentence sought by prosecutors for Kuo is only four years' jail while no custodial sentence is being sought against Kao. Nevertheless, the high profile of the case has put huge pressure on the defendants and their lawyer. Lee has been roundly criticized in the media for interfering too much in the case, delaying the completion of the investigation.
"As a lawyer," he said, "I can fight against the pressure, no problem. However, I did not know if my client has the same capability to take the same amount of pressure as I did. Obviously, it was not the scenario for Kao. Maybe my quitting the case is a good thing for her."
The 39-year-old Lee is currently defending Chan Hui-hua (
These two high profile cases have put Lee very much in the public eye. They have also led to criticism of him for defending shady figures. In response to such criticism, Lee says he is just doing his job.
"A `bad guy' is not a `bad guy' until he's convicted," he said. "As a lawyer, I have always tried to provide as much information as possible to my clients and the judges. In the meantime, I also help my clients make the best legal case they can so they can receive the most reasonable verdict under the judicial system."
"Making sure that my clients get a fair trial is what I always aim to do," he added. "I have never tried to make a guilty person seem innocent."
Growing up in Chinkuashih (
"I've attended three different high schools," he said. "However, I still did not graduate because I dropped out of school in the last semester. As a result, I had to join the college entrance exam with a certificate of high-school equivalency instead."
Lee said that he decided to join the army immediately after he failed the college entrance exam for the first time in 1981. After he finished his military service and failed the annual exam several more times, he finally passed and enrolled in the Law Department of National Chengchi University, from where he graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1991.
He became to work for Chiu Hung-dah (
RSS