"No compelling grounds to justify the death penalty"
Kim Dong-won, who wielded a weapon and killed three people at a pizza restaurant in Gwanak District, Seoul, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial.
On the 5th, the 34th Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Han Sungjin) of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim, who had been detained and indicted on charges of murder, to life imprisonment. All requests for an order to attach an electronic monitoring device and for probation were dismissed. The prosecution had previously sought the death penalty, along with a 30-year electronic monitoring order and 5 years of probation.
The court stated, "It appears that the victims must have felt considerable fear, and he has not been forgiven by the bereaved families," but added, "There have been multiple assessments of his risk of reoffending, and most of them rated it at a medium level. Taking this into account, there are no particularly compelling circumstances that would justify imposing the death penalty."
Previously, in September last year, Kim killed three people with a weapon he had hidden in the restaurant: an employee from the franchise headquarters and a father and daughter who were interior contractors, at the pizza restaurant he operated in Jowon-dong, Gwanak District, Seoul.
According to the police, Kim had operated the franchise store since September 2023, and when the headquarters and the interior company refused his request for free interior repairs on the grounds that the warranty period had expired, he harbored a grudge and killed the victims. After receiving the case from the police, the prosecution conducted a supplementary investigation and, in October last year, indicted Kim while keeping him in custody.
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