A man who committed a sex crime against a 13-year-old middle school student.
Even though the victim did not want punishment, the first-instance court ruled that a prison term was still necessary and sentenced him to 3 years in prison.
However, the second-instance court was different.
Citing the same lack of desire for punishment, it reduced the sentence to 3 years in prison suspended for 4 years.
The presiding judge at the time was Supreme Court Justice nominee Kim Sung-soo.
It has been confirmed that nominee Kim repeatedly handed down sentence reduction rulings in past cases involving juvenile sex crimes and dating violence.
In 2022, for a man sentenced to 7 years in prison on charges including distributing sexual exploitation materials of minors, Kim reduced the sentence to 5 years in prison, citing reasons such as "admitting to the crime and reflecting on it" and "having no prior record of criminal punishment."
This was a case where the first-instance court judged that a heavy sentence was inevitable because the gravity of the offense was heavy, even though the defendant had reached a settlement with some of the victims.
Notable reasons for sentence reductions also appear in dating violence cases.
A man who went to his ex-lover's home and stabbed her in the abdomen with a weapon after being rejected.
He received a prison sentence in the first trial, but the appeals court, presided over by nominee Kim, reduced the sentence to 3 years in prison suspended for 4 years, citing factors such as reaching a settlement with the victim and the fact that "minor children are waiting for him."
For a man who repeatedly assaulted his romantic partner and caused her death, the court also took into consideration that he settled with the bereaved family and requested a 119 call while performing first aid right after the crime, reducing his sentence from 6 years in prison to 3 years in prison suspended for 5 years.
Sentence reductions were also issued in a stalking case that took place last year.
An active-duty soldier who made calls with caller ID restriction to a woman for 10 months.
Nominee Kim's judicial panel pointed out, "He made excuses, did not reflect, and was not forgiven by the victim."
Nevertheless, citing factors such as "having served in the military relatively faithfully," the panel reduced the 3 million won fine sentenced in the first trial to 900,000 won.
Public officials can lose their positions if a fine of 1 million won or more is finalized for a sex crime.
Nominee Kim's side stated that he has maintained that "the only person who can forgive a defendant is the victim, not a judge," and explained that he has determined sentences by comprehensively considering various sentencing factors, including the victim's intentions and changes in circumstances during the appellate trial.
(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-sun | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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