[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A police officer who was prosecuted for a negligent investigation of singer Jung Joon-young's (34) illegal filming case has been sentenced to a fine.
According to the legal community on the 16th, the Supreme Court Division 1 (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) recently finalized the ruling, finding no legal errors in the second trial that sentenced police officer A (58), who was charged with falsifying official documents and dereliction of duty, to a fine of 2 million won.
Jung Joon-young is entering the courtroom to attend the detention hearing (warrant review) held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on March 21, 2019, on charges of illegally filming and distributing sexual intercourse videos. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
Officer A was prosecuted for deliberately handling the investigation of Jung Joon-young's 'illegal filming case' negligently in August 2016 and for falsifying official documents.
The prosecution believed that Officer A, responding to a request from Jung Joon-young's defense lawyer to quickly process the case without securing mobile phones or forensic data, falsely recorded suspect statements or failed to secure crime videos.
The first trial found all charges guilty and sentenced him to a suspended prison term.
In the second trial, the sentence was reduced to a fine. Except for the charge of falsely marking 'original verified' on some documents, the other charges were acquitted. It was determined that Officer A, following orders from superiors, forwarded the case to the prosecution without securing forensic data to expedite the process, without intent to handle the case negligently.
Although Jung Joon-young's lawyer submitted an opinion requesting a dismissal of charges, it was found that there was no request for expedited processing or that Officer A complied with such a request. The contents of the investigation report prepared by Officer A were also largely consistent with the truth.
The second trial court stated, "It is difficult to see that the defendant complied with Jung Joon-young's side's request," and "there is insufficient evidence to conclude that he consciously abandoned his duties as a judicial police officer." The Supreme Court also agreed with this judgment.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
