Myeong Jae-wan, 48, who was put on trial on charges of fatally stabbing an 8-year-old elementary school student with a weapon at an elementary school in Daejeon where Myeong worked as a teacher, was also sentenced to life imprisonment on appeal.
According to legal sources, on the 16th, the Daejeon High Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Park Jin-hwan) sentenced Myeong Jae-wan, indicted on charges including violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (for-profit abduction, enticement, etc.), to life imprisonment, the same as the lower court.
The appellate court said it was hard to find that the defendant's ability to distinguish things or make decisions was significantly diminished at the time of the crime, considering the selection of the victim, the specificity of the plan, and circumstances after the crime, and rejected the appeal by Myeong's side, which argued for a reduced sentence due to diminished mental capacity.
The appellate court also dismissed the prosecutor's appeal. The court said it is difficult to deem the lower court's life sentence unjust as either too light or too heavy, given all sentencing factors and circumstances, including the reality that sentences are not carried out, the defendant's mental state, and whether there is any possibility of rehabilitation.
The court added that the death penalty is an extremely exceptional punishment envisioned by the judicial system and could only be allowed in cases where there are special circumstances that anyone would recognize as justified.
Myeong was indicted on charges of luring Kim Ha-neul, a girl, into a storage room inside an audiovisual room at an elementary school in Seo District, Daejeon, on Feb. 10 last year and fatally stabbing her with a weapon.