Court: "Reoffended Despite Similar Prior Convictions"
Former professional baseball player Jeong Su-geun (48), who was charged with assaulting an acquaintance while drinking and driving under the influence, was sentenced to prison and taken into custody in court.
On the 8th, Judge Choi Young-eun of the Criminal Division 2 at the Uijeongbu District Court Namyangju Branch sentenced Jeong, who was indicted without detention on charges of special injury and drunk driving, to two years in prison and ordered his immediate detention, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency on the same day.
Jeong was charged with hitting the head of a man identified as A (47), who was drinking with him, twice with a beer bottle at around 9:30 p.m. on December 21, 2023, at a pub in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. It was investigated that Jeong, who had met A for the first time through an introduction by an acquaintance, proposed to go for a third round of drinking, but when A refused, Jeong became enraged and committed the assault. As a result, A sustained a laceration injury to his head.
Additionally, while on trial for this incident, Jeong was also charged with drunk driving. In September of last year, he was caught driving a passenger car for about 500 meters with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.064%, which is at the level of license cancellation. It was revealed that Jeong had been caught driving under the influence five times between 2004 and 2022 and had received fines, suspended sentences, and prison terms.
At the sentencing hearing on the 4th of last month, the prosecution requested a three-year prison sentence, stating, "The defendant has been punished multiple times for drunk driving in addition to assault and committed the crime during the recidivism period."
Jeong pleaded for leniency in court, saying, "I lost my judgment because I took a lot of medication for depression and insomnia," and "I admit all the charges and reflect on my actions."
However, the court judged that isolation from society was necessary given that Jeong had committed similar offenses multiple times in the past and reoffended. The court stated, "The defendant's actions were very dangerous, and no settlement was reached with the victim," and "Considering that he repeatedly committed crimes during the recidivism period, has prior convictions for drunk driving and violent acts, and did not correct his behavior but reoffended, the sentence was decided accordingly."
Jeong Su-geun began his professional career in 1995 with the OB Bears, transferred to the Lotte Giants in 2004, and played until 2009, including winning the KBO All-Star Game MVP in 2007. During his playing career, Jeong was involved in several controversies related to assault and drinking. Even after retirement, he caused trouble due to habitual drunk driving and was sentenced to one year in prison for drunk driving in 2022. He was incarcerated at Uijeongbu Prison and later released on parole.
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