A 20-Year-Old Murderer Serving Life Imprisonment Commits Another Murder in Prison... What Will Be the Sentence?

A man in his 20s, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery and murder, is standing trial again for committing another murder in prison.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A man in his 20s, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery and murder, is standing trial again for committing another murder in prison.

According to the legal community on the 6th, the Criminal Division 1 of Gongju Branch of Daejeon District Court (Chief Judge Kim Jihyang) will hold the first trial of Mr. A (26), who is charged with murder, habitual assault, special assault, special injury, and forced molestation causing injury, on the 9th.

Mr. A was indicted for brutally beating Mr. B (42) to death inside the common room of Gongju Prison around 9:25 p.m. on December 21 last year. From October to December last year, he also swung a club at Mr. B or twisted parts of his body with clothespins.

Two inmates who were in the same common room were also brought to trial on charges including aiding and abetting murder for leaving Mr. B, who lost consciousness due to Mr. A's assault, unattended.

Thus, Mr. A is facing murder charges again while serving a life sentence confirmed for robbery-murder, currency forgery, use of forged currency, fraud, and violation of military service law.

Previously, on December 26, 2019, around 10:20 p.m., Mr. A attacked Mr. C (then 44 years old) multiple times with a blunt weapon on a road in Gyeryong City, Chungnam Province, and took 100 don of gold and a passenger car. Mr. C was transferred to a hospital but died.

At that time, Mr. A lured Mr. C, who posted an ad saying "selling gold" on an online secondhand trading site, and committed the crime.

Mr. A was sentenced to 40 years in prison in the first trial, but the appellate court of Daejeon High Court sentenced him to life imprisonment, stating that "the method of striking the victim with a metal hammer while begging for mercy was cruel." The Supreme Court also dismissed the defendant's appeal without oral argument.

The legal community expects a debate over Mr. A's sentencing in the upcoming trial for the prison murder charge. Given the high possibility of the prosecution seeking the death penalty, the court may deliberate extensively on the sentence.

Domestic executions have not been carried out since December 1997. Currently, there are 61 death row inmates (including military personnel) awaiting execution.

The world's largest human rights organization, Amnesty International, classifies South Korea as a de facto abolitionist country regarding the death penalty.