Kim Shin-hye, 47, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her biological father by giving him alcohol mixed with sleeping pills, was acquitted in a retrial 24 years after the incident.
Kim, who was released immediately upon her acquittal, noted, "I wonder if it really takes decades to correct something that was wrong."
On the 6th, the criminal division 1 of Gwangju District Court's Haenam branch (Presiding Judge Park Hyun-su) acquitted Kim in the retrial sentencing hearing for a patricide case. It has been 24 years since Kim was arrested and over nine years since the retrial was decided to commence.
In the retrial, issues such as ▲ the reliability of confession statements ▲ illegally obtained evidence ▲ the possibility of detecting sleeping pills ▲ motives for the crime were contested, but the court ruled in favor of Kim. The court determined that Kim's confession to killing her father during the investigation could not be used as evidence of guilt, particularly noting that there was a possibility she falsely confessed to protect her brother who was suspected as the perpetrator.
The court also declared that all evidence seized by the police through searches and seizures was obtained through illegal procedures without warrants, making it inadmissible. The court found that there was no definitive proof that Kim's father died because of the sleeping pills she allegedly administered.
The court noted, "During the autopsy, there were no traces of significant drug ingestion, whether powder or pills, found in the victim's stomach" and further stated, "It is not possible for 30 pills to normally produce a doxylamine concentration of 13.02㎍/㎖ in the blood, nor can the increase be attributed to postmortem redistribution." The court added, "Considering the blood alcohol concentration of the victim at the time of death was 0.303%—a level indicative of severe intoxication with possible motor impairment or coma—this could have been an independent cause of death."
Regarding the motive for the crime, the court noted it was hard to acknowledge the alleged sexual misconduct by the victim as the motive and remarked that it's unlikely Kim, who held a qualification as an insurance agent, would be unaware that receiving insurance benefits was difficult due to breach of the duty to disclose information. In the context of hiding the body, the court mentioned, "Just before the possible time for hiding the body, Kim called friends asking to meet, which seems inconsistent with someone who had committed premeditated murder."
However, the court acknowledged that while many suspicious points remain, such as Kim allegedly coaching her siblings to give false testimony and inconsistencies in Kim's own statements, these factors alone cannot conclusively determine guilt.
Kim did not appear in court on the day of the ruling, but after being acquitted and released immediately from Jangheung Correctional Facility, Kim stated, "My father suffered and then passed away, and I regret not being able to protect him until the end" and added, "Such incidents should never be repeated."
Kim emphasized, "I reflected a lot inside on why it takes 25 years (actual 24 years) and decades for something wrong to be corrected. I will also contribute to prevent such tragedies from happening again."
Park Joon-young, a lawyer specializing in "retrial," who represented in this trial stated, "The powerful evidence of innocence is the strength of the truth claimed by the defendant for 24 years" and expressed hope that "this judgment serves as a significant turning point for Kim and her siblings to restore their lives."
Kim was indicted for killing her father A, then 52 years old, in Wando-eup, Wando County, South Jeolla Province, on March 7, 2000, using alcohol mixed with sleeping pills, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court. During the investigation, she confessed to attempting to kill A, who had sexually assaulted her and her younger sister but later recanted in court, denying the charges. However, the court did not accept Kim's recanted testimony and confirmed the charge of patricide, sentencing her to life imprisonment.
Kim applied for retrial after the case was reexamined and was granted a retrial decision in 2015. This trial is a retrial of the first trial where Kim was originally sentenced to life imprisonment. If the prosecution appeals the acquittal, the case may proceed to the second trial and result in further appeals.