Repeated Changes in Testimony About Alcohol Consumption: "Lacks Credibility"
Court Determines Blood Alcohol Concentration Was 0.03% or Higher
A man in his 40s who claimed, after being caught for drunk driving, that he had only drunk at home, was ultimately punished after it was confirmed that he had consumed alcohol during an internet broadcast.
On May 9, the Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Song Jonghwan) announced that it had sentenced Mr. A (42), who was indicted on charges of drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act and violating the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act, to a fine of 5 million won.
Mr. A was accused of driving a motorcycle without mandatory insurance with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05% over a distance of approximately 1.3 kilometers in Chuncheon City at around 9 p.m. on July 10 last year.
Mr. A argued, "The amount of alcohol I drank at the restaurant was only one glass of soju and one glass of beer, and since I drank more alcohol after returning home by motorcycle, it is difficult to conclude that my blood alcohol concentration was 0.03% or higher at the time of driving."
The court found that, if the Widmark formula was applied as Mr. A claimed, the blood alcohol concentration would not reach 0.03%. The Widmark formula is a method that retroactively estimates the blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving by calculating the type and amount of alcohol consumed, body weight, and the time elapsed after drinking and driving.
However, the court determined that Mr. A's blood alcohol concentration was 0.03% or higher, based on the fact that a significant amount of alcohol was consumed, as confirmed by a live internet broadcast at the restaurant, and on statements made to an acquaintance two days after the incident, such as "I insisted that I drank at home," or "I should insist that I only had one glass of soju and one glass of beer."
The court also found Mr. A's statements about the amount of alcohol consumed to be unreliable, as he repeatedly changed his testimony. Initially, Mr. A stated that he drank one or two glasses of soju at home, but after the alcohol test, he claimed it was three or four glasses. During questioning as a suspect, he changed his statement to say he drank straight soju, and later claimed he drank half a bottle of soju in a 500cc glass.
Furthermore, although Mr. A claimed to have drunk soju five minutes before the police arrived at his home, the soju bottle was a clean, empty bottle with no trace of moisture or condensation, and the court concluded that this could not serve as evidence supporting Mr. A's claims.
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