Appellate Court Overturns Original 1-Year Prison Sentence and Acquits
"Alcohol Consumption at Time of Driving Uncertain, Blood Alcohol Concentration Miscalculated"
A driver in his 50s who belatedly reported drunk driving to the police was acquitted in the appellate court. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] A man in his 50s who was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial for drunk driving after drinking nine glasses of soju and later confessing to the police was acquitted in the appellate court.
On the 3rd, the 4th Criminal Appeals Division of the Incheon District Court (Chief Judge Kim Yong-jung) announced that it overturned the original sentence of one year imprisonment for Mr. A (58), who was tried on charges of drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act, and acquitted him.
Mr. A was prosecuted for driving a vehicle about 5 meters on a road in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, around 10 p.m. on April 27 last year while intoxicated.
At the time, Mr. A had been drinking for about an hour before driving and collided with another vehicle parked on the street. He fled before the police arrived to avoid a breathalyzer test but appeared at the police station 12 days after the accident and admitted to drinking.
During the police investigation, Mr. A brought soju himself, which he claimed to have drunk "before driving," and poured it into a glass nine times. The amount of soju he claimed to have consumed was 250 ml, less than one bottle of soju (360 ml).
The police concluded, based on the Widmark formula, the amount of soju Mr. A stated, and his body weight (66.3 kg), that his blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of driving was 0.04%, the level for license suspension. The Widmark formula is an investigative technique that estimates BAC over time by considering the alcohol concentration, amount consumed, body weight, gender, and other factors.
The first trial court found the prosecution's charges to be true, sentenced Mr. A to imprisonment, and detained him in court. He had a history of multiple drunk driving offenses. In 2018, he was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Mr. A appealed, arguing that "the BAC at the time of driving cannot be definitively determined as 0.04%, and the original judgment misinterpreted facts and law." He also claimed during the first trial that his BAC did not exceed the punishment threshold of 0.03%.
The appellate court accepted Mr. A's argument, stating that the amount of alcohol consumed at the time of driving was not accurate and that the investigative agency miscalculated the BAC.
The appellate court stated, "The 250 ml of alcohol consumption is an estimated figure based on Mr. A's statement more than 10 days after the incident and is considered inaccurate."
It added, "The BAC of 0.04% calculated by the investigative agency did not reflect any reduction due to alcohol metabolism from the time Mr. A started drinking until the time of driving. When this reduction is considered, the BAC is 0.007%, which is below the punishable level."
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