Prosecution Gives Up Appeal... Lifer Falsely Accused of 'Killing His Wife' Acquitted

Honor Restored by Excluding Illegally Obtained Evidence

Park Junyoung, attorney and legal representative of the late Mr. Jang, a prisoner serving a life sentence, and bereaved family members expressed their reactions on the 11th in front of the criminal courtroom at the Gwangju District Court Haenam Branch in Haenam County, South Jeolla Province, immediately after the posthumous retrial verdict that found the late Mr. Jang not guilty. Photo by Min Hyunki

A husband who had been sentenced to life imprisonment after being falsely accused of murdering his wife to collect insurance money worth around 800 million won was finally acquitted in a retrial held after his death in prison, more than 20 years later.

On February 20, the Haenam Branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office announced that it would not file an appeal against the retrial ruling that found the late Jang Dongo not guilty. A prosecution official said, "We accept the ruling and have no separate statement to make."

Earlier, on February 11, the Criminal Division 1 of the Haenam Branch of the Gwangju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Seongheum, acquitted Jang in the first-instance retrial on the murder charge, citing "lack of proof of the criminal facts."

Jang had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court in 2005 on charges that on July 9, 2003, at an intersection in Uisin-myeon, Jindo County, South Jeolla Province, he caused a truck to plunge into Myeonggeum Reservoir (now Songjeong Reservoir), killing his wife, then 45 years old, who was in the passenger seat.

The police initially referred the case on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents, but the prosecution concluded that Jang had deliberately caused the accident in order to obtain insurance payouts totaling about 880 million won. Throughout the investigation and trial, Jang consistently maintained his innocence, saying, "It was a drowsy driving accident, and some of the insurance policies were taken out directly by my wife after consulting with an acquaintance," but his claims were not accepted at all.

However, in this retrial, the court completely overturned the original life sentence, concluding that the key pieces of evidence supporting the original verdict had been collected unlawfully without court warrants.

Jang's unbelievable story only came to light in 2017, when a police officer from the South Chungcheong region and attorney Park Junyoung, a specialist in retrials, reinvestigated the case at the request of Jang's family, who had long pleaded his wrongful conviction.

After the Supreme Court decided to grant a retrial in January last year, Jang died of acute leukemia on the very day in April when the suspension of his sentence was ordered, while still serving his life term. He was 66 years old at the time of his death, having endured more than 20 years of unjust imprisonment.