▲ Chuncheon District Court
Drivers who once again took the wheel completely drunk in broad daylight despite previous punishment for drunk driving have consecutively been sentenced to prison terms or faced increased penalties during periods when they should have been reflecting on their actions.
According to the legal community today (August 12), Judge Koh Beom-jin of the Criminal Division 2 at the Chuncheon District Court sentenced a 49-year-old individual surnamed A, who was indicted on charges of drunk driving and driving without a license under the Road Traffic Act, to 1 year and 10 months in prison.
A was put on trial for driving a cargo truck for about 1 kilometer without a license in Hongcheon at 3:21 PM on January 31 with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.182%.
Judge Koh handed down the prison sentence after rebuking A for reoffending while already on probation following a prison term, in addition to having received two prior fines for drunk driving.
Meanwhile, Criminal Division 1-3 of the same court (Presiding Judge Huh Il-seung) overturned a lower court ruling that sentenced a 50-year-old individual surnamed B to 1 year in prison on charges of drunk driving and dangerous driving resulting in injury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, increasing the sentence to 1 year and 6 months.
B drove about 10 kilometers in a heavily intoxicated state with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.264% in Wonju at 1 PM on October 2 of last year, causing a traffic accident that injured the driver of the victim vehicle.
Investigations revealed that B had already been punished multiple times for drunk driving and had a prior record of being sentenced to prison in 2020.
While the first instance judged that 1 year in prison was appropriate by taking into account that a settlement was reached with the victim and the defendant's poor health condition, the second instance increased the sentence considering the extremely high blood alcohol concentration and the 10-kilometer driving distance.
In addition, for a 59-year-old individual surnamed C indicted on charges of drunk driving and driving without a license, the appellate court overturned the lower court sentence of 1 year in prison with 2 years of probation and sentenced C to 2 years in prison with 3 years of probation.
C drove under the influence in Pyeongchang at 4:54 PM on June 4 of last year.
The blood alcohol level at the time reached 0.230%.
C was also caught driving without a license in July of the same year while under investigation for this incident.
The first instance sentenced C to 1 year in prison with 2 years of probation, judging that although C had a record of punishment for the same type of crime, there was a need to provide an opportunity to correct behavior within society.
However, the second instance considered the circumstance that C committed drunk driving yet again while under investigation after being caught for drunk driving in April of last year as well, judging that the lower court's sentence was too light and increasing it to 2 years in prison with 3 years of probation.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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