Actor Son Seung-won, who was tried on charges of drunk driving, was sentenced to two years in prison, double the original sentence.
On the 13th, the Seoul Western District Court, 1st Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Ban Jeong-woo, Director General) overturned the original sentence that had sentenced Son Seung-won to one year in prison on charges including drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act and sentenced him to two years in prison.
However, the court upheld the first-instance decision to suspend a 1.5 million won fine for his girlfriend, identified as Ms. A, who was accused of helping Son Seung-won hide evidence, saying the lower court's judgment was reasonable.
The court criticized, "He instructed his girlfriend to hide the black box SD card, which was unfavorable evidence for her, so the nature of the crime is bad," and pointed out, "He also made an active false statement that the substitute driver abandoned the car and left."
The court added, "Driving while intoxicated over a distance of 7 km and driving the wrong way on the Gangbyeonbuk-ro for about 1 minute and 30 seconds was an act that caused significant public danger."
In particular, the court noted Son Seung-won's prior convictions for drunk driving and said the first-instance sentence was light given that he committed the offense again, and explained the reasons for sentencing by considering that he belatedly admitted the crime, that no actual traffic accident occurred, and that he submitted the SD card after the evidence concealment was exposed.
Meanwhile, Son Seung-won was arrested in the act last November after driving the wrong way on the Gangbyeonbuk-ro for about two minutes in an extremely intoxicated state and was indicted in February. At the time of detection, his blood alcohol concentration was more than twice the license suspension threshold (0.08% or higher).
In the first trial, the court sentenced him to one year in prison and, judging there was a risk of flight, remanded him in custody. The prosecution appealed, saying the sentence was too light, and at the sentencing hearing sought the same four-year prison sentence as in the first trial.
This is already Son Seung-won's fifth drunk driving offense. In 2018, Son Seung-won was tried on charges of driving while intoxicated without a license in Gangnam, Seoul, causing an accident and fleeing the scene.
At that time, it was revealed that Son Seung-won had driven again while his license had been revoked due to three prior drunk driving convictions, causing shock. The defendant was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, becoming the so-called first celebrity punished under the "Yoon Chang-ho law."
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]