Surrendered Claiming "Planned Random Murder" with a Weapon
Testified in Court "Tried to Go to Prison Due to Financial Hardship..."
Court Rules "No Evidence of Substantial Act of Murder," Acquitted
A man in his 50s who possessed a weapon and confessed to the police about a ‘random murder’ plan was acquitted again in the appellate court. The reason was that he had made a false confession to go to prison due to financial hardship.
The 4th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Gu Chang-mo) dismissed the prosecution’s appeal in the appellate trial of Mr. A (52), who was indicted on charges of attempted murder, maintaining the first trial’s not guilty verdict, according to Newsis on the 25th.
The photo is unrelated to the article / Photo by Pixabay
Mr. A left his home in Dong-gu, Daejeon, around 10 p.m. on December 24, 2020, and wandered around Dong-gu and Jung-gu for about two and a half hours before going to the Daejeon Jungbu Police Station to confess his murder plan.
Showing a weapon that was in his jumper pocket, Mr. A said, “I intended to kill someone without reason but couldn’t,” and “If I keep wandering around, I will want to kill someone again, so please arrest me.” The police then arrested Mr. A on the spot.
Mr. A also testified that “I threatened a woman I met near Mokcheokgyo Bridge in Jung-gu with a weapon, and she screamed and ran away, and another man cursed and ran away.” However, the police’s review of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at the scene did not show such an incident, and no reports of murder threats or similar complaints had been received.
However, Mr. A testified in court that he had falsely confessed because he wanted to go to prison due to financial difficulties. Additionally, all the weapons he possessed were rusted, and he had no history of violence. It was reported that he had been living in a rented room paying 180,000 won per month for 10 years but had not paid rent for a year and had been asked to vacate by the landlord.
Accordingly, the court judged that Mr. A “cannot be considered to have a particularly violent tendency or mental problems” and acquitted him in the first trial.
The court explained, “Although it is acknowledged that the defendant wandered the streets carrying a weapon, it cannot be objectively concluded that he took substantial actions with the intent to commit a so-called ‘random crime’ murder,” and “It is difficult to consider the charges proven based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution.”
In response, the prosecution appealed, stating, “Mr. A gave very detailed and consistent statements about the crime on three occasions to the investigative authorities, and the testimonies of the police officers who investigated are also reliable,” and argued that “there was a factual error and misinterpretation of the law in the first trial’s judgment.”
However, the appellate court dismissed the appeal, stating, “Since no additional evidence was submitted and it cannot be proven that the defendant engaged in preparatory acts for murder, the original judgment is appropriate.”
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