'Japanese Murder Case' Perpetrator Requests Citizen Jury Trial in Court

Random Selection of Residents Aged 20 and Over

A man in his 30s who killed a neighbor with a Japanese sword in an apartment complex in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, has reportedly requested a trial by jury.

Baek, who was urgently arrested by the police on suspicion of fatally attacking a neighbor with a Japanese sword at an apartment in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, is entering the Seoul Western District Court in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to undergo a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing).
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 6th, the Seoul Western District Court announced that Baek (37), who was arrested and indicted on charges of murder and violation of the Firearms and Ammunition Control Act, submitted a statement of intent to request a trial by jury on the 4th.

A trial by jury is a system in which randomly selected jurors aged 20 or older from the community participate in the trial, deliver a verdict on the defendant's guilt or innocence, and provide opinions on sentencing. Although the jurors' verdict and sentencing opinions are not legally binding, the court refers to them when making its judgment.

Baek is accused of wielding a weapon and killing a neighbor, Kim (43), who had briefly stepped out to smoke a cigarette in front of the apartment's main gate in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, at 11:22 p.m. on July 29. Kim, wounded on the shoulder by the weapon, walked to a nearby security post to seek help, but Baek chased him and struck him several more times with the weapon. Kim died while being transported by ambulance.

According to the prosecution, Baek resigned from his company about three years ago and, after reading political and economic news, fell into a delusion around October last year that "Chinese spies were planning to start a war against the Republic of Korea." He believed the victim, whom he often encountered in the same apartment complex, was a Chinese spy stalking and surveilling him, and decided to commit the crime. The prosecution judged Baek's crime as a "premeditated crime with an abnormal motive."