First Trial Sentences 12 Million Won Fine Exceeding Legal Maximum
Supreme Court: "Violation of Law Found, Disadvantage to Defendant"
The court sentenced a drunk driver to a penalty higher than the statutory punishment, but this was corrected by the Supreme Court following an extraordinary appeal by the Prosecutor General. An extraordinary appeal is a system that allows the Prosecutor General to request correction from the Supreme Court when it is discovered that a finalized judgment violates the law.
The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) announced on the 11th that it overturned the original ruling that sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving), to a fine of 12 million won, and instead sentenced him to a fine of 10 million won.
Mr. A was tried for driving approximately 1 km on a road in Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, in December 2020, while intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.099%.
The first-instance court recognized Mr. A's drunk driving charge and sentenced him to a fine of 12 million won. The issue was that the court imposed a fine of 12 million won, which exceeds the statutory maximum fine of 10 million won, although the law stipulates that for a blood alcohol concentration below 0.2%, the punishment should be imprisonment for one to two years or a fine between 5 million and 10 million won.
The provision of the Road Traffic Act applied to Mr. A allows the court to choose between imprisonment and a fine, and if a fine is chosen, the amount cannot exceed 10 million won. Neither the prosecution nor Mr. A appealed the ruling, which was finalized in June of last year.
Accordingly, the Prosecutor General filed an extraordinary appeal, arguing that the ruling was incorrect. Upon reviewing the case, the Supreme Court accepted the extraordinary appeal, stating that "the court violated the law and this is disadvantageous to the defendant."
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