Supreme Court Finalizes 1 Year and 6 Months in Prison for Rapper Keith Ape over Habitual Drug Use

"Smoking Marijuana Five Times"
Rapper Keith Ape Given Final Prison Sentence
"No Appeal Allowed on Sentencing Grounds for Terms Under 10 Years"

Rapper Keith Ape (real name Lee Dongheon), who was indicted on charges of habitually smoking marijuana, has received a final sentence of one year and six months in prison. The Supreme Court held that the defendant's claim that the sentence was unfairly heavy cannot constitute a legitimate ground for appeal.

Supreme Court, Seocho District, Seoul. Yonhap News

According to the legal community on the 25th, the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Lee Sookyeon) upheld the lower court ruling that sentenced Lee to one year and six months in prison in the final appeal trial on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act (marijuana).

Lee was brought to trial on charges of smoking marijuana and liquid marijuana a total of five times between February 2023 and January 2024 at music studios in Gangnam-gu and Mapo-gu, Seoul.

In the first and second instance trials, the courts found all of Lee's charges guilty and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison, 40 hours of drug addiction rehabilitation education, and a forfeiture of 800,000 won. Lee's side appealed, arguing that "the lower court did not sufficiently examine the case, and the sentence is unfair because it is too severe."

However, the Supreme Court did not accept this. The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's decision that violates the rules of logic and empirical rules, exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterprets the legal principles."

The court went on, "Under Article 383, subparagraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act, an appeal on the ground of 'unjust sentencing' is allowed only in cases where the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment or confinement for not less than 10 years has been imposed," and added, "In this case, where a lighter sentence than that threshold was imposed on the defendant, the argument that the sentence is too heavy does not constitute a legitimate ground for appeal," thereby stating the reason for dismissal.