Man in His 30s Sentenced to Prison for Sixth Drunk Driving Offense During Probation

Cheongju District Court Sentences Man to 1 Year and 4 Months in Prison for Repeat Drunk Driving

A man in his 30s, who had five previous convictions for drunk driving, was sentenced to prison after being caught driving under the influence again, despite having his sentence reduced to probation on appeal.

According to Yonhap News on July 27, the Cheongju District Court Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kang Geonwoo) sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 30s who was tried on charges of drunk driving, to one year and four months in prison.

Mr. A was accused of driving his own passenger car under the influence of alcohol at around 8:38 a.m. on July 5 last year in Gwanghyewon-myeon, Jincheon-gun, North Chungcheong Province. He had previously been convicted and punished for drunk driving five times between 2010 and 2020. It was found that he committed drunk driving again while he was still on probation.

Cheongju District Court Exterior

The court stated, "The defendant had previously been sentenced to prison for drunk driving, but was released after his sentence was reduced to probation on appeal. Nevertheless, he committed drunk driving again." The court further explained the reason for the prison sentence, saying, "Granting the defendant another lenient sentence such as probation would be no different from the court putting innocent lives at risk due to drunk driving. Therefore, a prison sentence is unavoidable."

Recently, there have been a series of cases where habitual drunk drivers have been sentenced to prison.

On July 20, the Jeonju District Court Criminal Division 3-1 (Presiding Judge Park Hyuni) announced that it had dismissed the appeal of Mr. B (aged 57), who was indicted for violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk and unlicensed driving), and upheld the original sentence of one year in prison. Mr. B was indicted for driving about 600 meters on a road in Gunsan City without a license and with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.058% (the level for license suspension) at around 9:56 p.m. on December 23 last year. He even drove himself to the police station when summoned for the drunk and unlicensed driving incident. Previously, in May of the same year, Mr. B had been sentenced to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for drunk driving.

The appellate court stated, "The defendant has repeatedly committed traffic-related offenses over more than 20 years while driving without ever obtaining a license." The court added, "Even considering that the degree of intoxication was not severe, the original sentence cannot be considered unreasonable or excessive," and dismissed the appeal.