Below is a recent picture of Dr. Shieh at Snow Mountain in Taiwan. Dr. Shieh and his young friend behind him have a combined age of 101!
TRIAL UPDATE!! (From Dr. Shieh)
It has been a long time since the last update of my criminal case trial in Taiwan. The lengthy trial procedure is finally over and I think it is a good moment to give another update before the formal announcement of the verdict, which is scheduled for July 30—the end of this month.
The trial consisted of three main parts. The first part of the trial consisted in 14 sessions of preparatory procedures during which all the material cited as evidence by the prosecutor in the written indictment was reviewed and refuted in court by all accused parties, three on-site judges and approximately 15 attorneys representing 10 defendants. This part, held monthly, lasted 13 months (from March 2007 through March 2008), with each session lasting approximately 2 to 3 hours.
The second part of the trial was allotted for cross-examination. There were 5 sessions of cross-examination, held weekly, from April 8, 2008 through May 7, 2008. In the course of these 5 sessions, 15 witnesses were called to the stand to answer questions raised by the judges, the prosecutor and the attorneys. There were about 3 to 4 witnesses summoned for inquiry each time, and the court was in session for an entire day each time--from 10am to 6pm.
The third and final part of the trial consisted of oral arguments and debates between all parties. This part began with the prosecutor, who presented an argument, delineating all the charges against the defendants, using a personal computer and power point presentation projected upon a screen. Following the fierce, harsh accusations made by the prosecutor, the defense lawyers were then called one-by-one—like a roll-call—to argue and refute any possible false accusations, arguments or evidence presented by the prosecutor. After the lawyers had their opportunity to speak, the chief judge ordered by procedure that each and every defendant had the right to personally make his own final statement before the panel of judges.
Recall that this case involved 10 defendants: one low ranking civil servant; one high ranking civil servant; six project-proposal evaluators who were invited because of their expertise as professors or specialists in vibration, construction, earthquake engineering, etc.; the contractor responsible fo the construction of the project; and myself—a government appointee (Deputy Minister). In the original indictment, the investigating prosecutor had demanded that each one of us 10 defendants face jail terms ranging from 5 to 15 years—that adds up to a total of 69 years between us—with the added monetary punishment amounting to about US $19 million dollars! It was more than clear to us that the prosecutor built his case against us around speculation and accusations that were politically motivated—pressing for the most severe and dramatic sentences possible in order to sensationalize the case, motivated by the desire to defame the Chen administration in the hopes of making political gains in the legislature and upcoming presidential elections—President Chen's party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was the incumbent government during the time of my arrest.
If we carefully look at the indictment paper, we see that there were 10 counts of crime with which we were charged. For each of these 10 counts, there were approximately 10 allegations supporting each charge. To substantiate each of the allegations, the investigating prosecutor listed 2 or 3 pieces of supporting “evidence.” This “evidence” was in each case some kind of physical, written item—whether it be a document, report, book, or deposition made by one of witnesses questioned by the prosecution office during the investigation period conducted before the trial started.
In our case, a simple tally comes up with 254 pieces of evidence (155 depositions and 99 physical documents) that our lawyers had to work hard to discredit or successfully dispute in order for us to have a shot at the “not-guilty” verdict. Does that sound impossible?
17 months have passed since the trial began. My attorneys have worked very hard, I myself worked even harder, and my helpers Kailin and Huanchi have worked the hardest of all: they have maintained all the piles of information in impeccable order, hand-tagging them with notes and markers. They have searched through all possible relevant materials, combed each conceivable piece of information, looked and inspected every document and spent countless hours painstakingly re-counting with me and helping me remember the details throughout the span of the project period. I am 66 years old, and I am prone to forget, confuse and misplace valuable/critical papers, records and documents, but my two outstanding assistants have helped me to be effective and timely as we struggled day and night to sort out things that were critical to a successful court action taken by our attorneys.
Over time, it gradually became obvious to us that there were 2 or 3 witnesses who had either been somehow dissatisfied with my handling of the project, or had maybe been afraid of being implicated, and had therefore chosen to collaborate with the prosecution office. We found that these individuals had been feeding the investigators false information which implied that I and the evaluation team I had organized had operated with the intention to help the accused contractor win this project. This was actually a story fabricated by the prosecutor, after he failed to find convincing evidence to prove my guilt. His accusations against me were based upon hearsay only—upon the collected words of these few people they summoned for interrogation.
As a result, it would be expected that inconsistencies among the witnesses’ testimonies were bound to come out in front of the judges during cross-examination, and that is precisely what had happened in court! You have probably seen old detective shows such as Dr. Quincy, The Detective on Wheel Chair, or the Perry Mason series. My court trial was just like an episode from one of these shows—or even better! The trial was astonishing, dramatic, exciting, surprising, with unexpected moments and testimonies, ending with the final statements from every defendant that left everybody in the court room heartbroken, sad and with tears in their eyes!
At this moment I cannot find a single piece of evidence they presented capable of causing a guilty sentence. So I expect, as well as every lawyer including attorney Koo—who is known to be very conservative—a “not guilty” verdict to be the only possible result!
Of course, nothing is firm until the words come out of judge’s mouth, so we can only wait with great optimism.
For the last two and half years I have lived in confinement, restricted from traveling outside of Taiwan. I have taken this as an opportunity to tour this island country more. I have visited many places that I had never been before, most recently I went to Snow Mountain, elevation 13000 feet, the second tallest peak in Taiwan after Jade Mountain. In June 2008, I was there and survived stormy weather right up to the mountain top. When I think how I am 66 and have the strength and ability to do such things, I feel grateful and proud!
Taiwan is a very beautiful land for visitors and residents alike to love and enjoy. Here are some photos from my mountain trip that I'd like to share with everyone:
Here is a painted boulder with the elevation of Snow Mountain.
Here we are at the top of the mountain...notice the wet weather! Another hiker is at the edge of the top, but I am so beat I can only crouch behind! At this point, some of us are even suffering from altitude illness!
See the mountain peaks across the clouds.
The Snow Mountain Range has 2 peaks reaching elevations greater than 3000 meters; here you can see the East Peak which has an altitude of 3150 meters. There are more than 100 peaks in Taiwan that reach higher than 3000 meters--so far, I have climbed 3 of these...97 more to go!
Here I am (in the red shirt) with my fellow hikers, returning to the trail entrance after 4 days of adventure. Notice the shining sun and lush greenery around and on the ground--indicating the lower altitudes.
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