Singer Kim Ho-joong ultimately gave up his appeal, and a prison sentence of 2 years and 6 months has been finalized.
According to a report by a media outlet on the 15th, Kim Ho-joong submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court on the 13th and immediately followed it with a notice of abandonment of the appeal. As a result, he has accepted the 2 years and 6 months of imprisonment imposed in the first and second trials for the charge of drunk hit-and-run.
Earlier, on the 25th of last month, Kim Ho-joong received the same sentence in the appeals trial as in the first trial. At that time, the court stated, "The defendant's alcohol consumption on the day of the accident seems significant, and the cause of the accident is due to impaired judgment caused by drinking, not merely from using a mobile phone."
Immediately after the ruling, Kim Ho-joong submitted an appeal and continued legal consultations with a large law firm, but it is reported that he ultimately decided to give up the appeal after much deliberation.
Kim Ho-joong was brought to trial on the charge of hitting a taxi that was stopped on the other side of the road in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in May of last year and leaving the scene. He acknowledged driving to the police 17 hours after the accident, and although he initially denied drinking, he later admitted to it after evidence of drinking was revealed through CCTV analysis.
However, the prosecution did not apply charges of drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act, citing that it was difficult to ascertain the exact blood alcohol content due to indications that Kim Ho-joong had used a "drunk driving method" after the accident.
The trial, which was once expected to lead to a Supreme Court appeal, concluded with Kim Ho-joong's decision to abandon the appeal.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]