First Trial Guilty → Second Trial Acquittal Reversed
Dispute Over Recognition of Intent in Official Assault
Jung Jin-woong, Research Fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Supreme Court's final ruling on Jeong Jin-woong, a research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute (54, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 29), who was prosecuted for assaulting and injuring Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon during a search and seizure operation, will be announced on the 30th.
The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) will hold the verdict hearing in the appeal trial of Jeong, who was indicted on charges of official assault under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, this afternoon.
Jeong was non-detained indicted on charges of official assault under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes for assaulting Minister Han and causing injury during the seizure of a newly purchased mobile phone's SIM card after the first search and seizure by the prosecution on July 29, 2020.
At that time, Jeong, along with another prosecutor and four investigators, conducted the search and seizure on Minister Han. While Minister Han was reviewing the search warrant, he tried to call his lawyer with Jeong's permission to have the lawyer participate in the execution of the search warrant. However, Jeong mistakenly believed that Minister Han's act of unlocking his phone's password was an attempt to destroy evidence by deleting apps like KakaoTalk or Telegram. Jeong then forcefully tried to take the phone back from Minister Han, who was sitting on a sofa. Both fell to the floor together, and Jeong ended up pinning Minister Han down.
The prosecution, based on Minister Han's injury diagnosis, judged that Minister Han suffered injuries including a ligament sprain in the neck requiring three weeks of treatment, applying the charge of official assault under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.
Jeong was the chief prosecutor of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, in charge of investigating the so-called 'Channel A coercion attempt' case, also known as the 'prosecutor-media collusion' case, but unusually went directly to the Legal Research and Training Institute's Yongin branch, where Minister Han worked, to conduct the search and seizure, leading to this incident.
Especially, former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae stated that "there is more than enough evidence" regarding the 'prosecutor-media collusion,' and Jeong said, "We have secured many important pieces of evidence during the investigation, approaching the substantial truth of the prosecutor-media collusion." Shortly after, Jeong, as the head of the investigation team, personally conducted the search and seizure to secure additional evidence, leading to speculation around the prosecution that the investigation team had not yet secured decisive evidence.
The first trial court judged that the prosecution failed to sufficiently prove that Minister Han was injured, acquitting Jeong of the official assault charge under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, but recognizing guilt for official assault under the Criminal Act, which does not require injury as an element, sentencing Jeong to 4 months imprisonment with 1 year probation and 1 year disqualification.
The court stated, "The defendant assaulted the victim based on a subjective judgment that the victim was attempting to destroy evidence without exercising minimal caution as to whether the use of physical force during the execution of the search warrant was justified," adding, "Physical force against the body of the person subject to seizure must be strictly limited not only during detention but also during the execution of coercive investigations such as search warrants, making the defendant's actions highly blameworthy."
Furthermore, "The defendant has not reflected on his actions, claiming they were justified during the investigation and trial process, and has made no efforts to restore the victim," the court added.
Article 4-2(1) of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (Aggravated Punishment for Arrest, Detention, etc.) stipulates that causing injury through official assault under Article 125 of the Criminal Act is punishable by "imprisonment for not less than one year."
Article 125 (Assault and Cruel Acts) of the Criminal Act provides that persons performing duties related to detention, such as prosecutors or police officers, who assault criminal suspects, shall be punished more severely than ordinary assault, with imprisonment of up to 5 years and disqualification for up to 10 years.
In court, Jeong's defense argued that the 'duty' in Article 125 of the Criminal Act refers to duties related to detention, so it does not apply to acts committed during search and seizure, and that Jeong had no intent to commit official assault, but these arguments were rejected.
They also argued that even if the elements of official assault were met, the act was justified under Article 20 of the Criminal Act, or that it was a case of mistaken justification (where the defendant mistakenly believed a justifying circumstance existed when it did not, a type of mistake of fact negating illegality), and that such mistake was reasonable, negating intent, but this was also rejected.
However, the outcome was reversed in the second trial.
The second trial court also rejected Jeong's other claims (related to duty, justification, mistaken justification), but unlike the first trial court, it found it difficult to recognize Jeong's intent or even conditional intent for official assault and acquitted him.
The second trial court stated, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is difficult to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant had intent (including conditional intent) to commit official assault at the time of the incident. Therefore, the original court's judgment is hard to accept," adding, "The defendant's appeal grounds pointing this out are valid."
The court noted that before Jeong went to conduct the search and seizure, based on information reported by investigators, he expected Minister Han to unlock his iPhone using facial recognition and immediately call his lawyer. When Minister Han appeared to enter a password, Jeong mistakenly believed he was deleting KakaoTalk or Telegram conversations or uninstalling the apps. Thus, at the time Jeong first tried to seize Minister Han's phone, it could be seen that his intention was only to secure the phone to achieve the purpose of the search and seizure.
The court also acknowledged that during the attempt to seize the phone from Minister Han, who was sitting on the sofa, the two fell to the floor in a piled-up state with Minister Han's body pressed down by Jeong. Although Jeong continued trying to take the phone, considering their positions and the sofa's height, it was possible that Jeong lost balance while moving in the direction Minister Han was avoiding and fell on top of Minister Han.
The court stated, "It cannot be ruled out that the force accompanying the defendant's fall combined with the victim's posture, who was reaching out with the opposite hand, caused both to slip from the sofa to the floor."
In conclusion, the court judged, "It is difficult to definitively state that the defendant had the internal intention to recognize the possibility of physical force being applied to the victim's body during the seizure of the phone and to tolerate the risk of such result occurring at the time of the incident."
However, the court pointed out, "Objective verification procedures conducted immediately after the incident suggest that the victim did not attempt to destroy evidence, so the defendant's actions cannot be considered appropriate."
Former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae promoted Jeong, who was under investigation as a suspect in the official assault case in August 2020, to deputy chief prosecutor of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office.
Successor former Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye delayed personnel action against Jeong even after he was indicted on official assault charges, and only after the first trial's guilty verdict did he transfer Jeong to a research fellow position at the Legal Research and Training Institute, 13 months after the incident.
Meanwhile, Minister Han, who was investigated in the 'Channel A coercion attempt' case, was cleared of charges, and former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae, who was prosecuted, was acquitted in the first trial and is undergoing the second trial.
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