The appeal trial of Myeong Jae-wan (48), accused of killing a first-grade student at an elementary school in Daejeon, is being delayed. It is because Myeong's attorney resigned ahead of the first hearing on appeal.
According to legal sources on the 10th, the first hearing on appeal in Myeong's case on charges including violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (abduction for profit and luring, etc.) ended after only confirming personal details.
It was because the court-appointed attorney selected ahead of the trial had not yet reviewed the case file, and the private attorney who had represented Myeong since the first trial resigned on the 7th.
At the hearing held under the Criminal Division 1 of the Daejeon High Court, in response to the presiding judge's question, "Why did the attorney suddenly resign?", Myeong answered, "I'm not sure. I only heard it was for personal reasons."
In February, at the elementary school where he worked, Myeong allegedly lured Kim Ha-neul (8), who was on her way home after finishing an after-school care class, into the audiovisual room by saying he would "give a book," then stabbed and killed her with a weapon.
The first-instance court characterized it as an unprecedented case in which an elementary school teacher brutally killed a student only 7 years old at the school where the teacher was employed. Myeong's side argued diminished mental capacity, but the court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The court decided to resume the trial at 3 p.m. on the 17th.