The appellate ruling for Myeong Jae-wan, 48, who was indicted and detained on charges of fatally stabbing an 8-year-old elementary school student at an elementary school in Daejeon where Myeong worked as a teacher, will be handed down on the 16th.
The Daejeon High Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Park Jin-hwan) is scheduled to deliver the second-instance verdict at 11 a.m. that day for Myeong, who was indicted on charges including violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (for-profit abduction and enticement, etc.).
In the first trial, Myeong was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of luring Kim Ha-neul, an 8-year-old girl, into a storage room inside an audiovisual room at an elementary school in Seo-gu, Daejeon, where Myeong worked as a teacher, at around 5 p.m. on Feb. 10 last year, and fatally stabbing her. Myeong appealed the first-instance ruling.
Since the first trial, Myeong's side has claimed diminished mental capacity. In a psychiatric evaluation conducted at the defendant's request and accepted by the court, a finding was made that Myeong was in a state of diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime.
However, prosecutors sought the death penalty in the first trial, saying the psychiatric evaluation, which relied on the defendant's statements, was difficult to trust and that there was no link between any mental illness and the crime.
In response, the defense argued, "As the psychiatric evaluation proves, considering the previously conscientious life, the causes that led to the crime, and the possibility of rehabilitation through treatment, please allow a single chance."
However, the court said, "Even if the defendant was suffering from mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder at the time of the crime, whether to view that as grounds for mitigation is at the judge's discretion," and did not reflect diminished capacity in sentencing.
Still, it sentenced Myeong to life imprisonment, saying, "The defendant's crime cannot be evaluated the same as a crime committed in a fully sound mental state, and it is difficult to see the need for permanent isolation by depriving life."
Prosecutors appealed, arguing the ruling was unjust, and again sought the death penalty for Myeong in the second instance. Myeong appealed seeking to have the diminished capacity reflected in sentencing. In particular, at the second-instance closing hearing, Myeong said, "I have no memory at all of the moment of stabbing the child, and I cannot understand the very claim that I committed such a brutal killing."
Meanwhile, before the first-instance ruling, Myeong submitted a total of 95 letters of remorse to the court. It is said Myeong also wrote seven letters of remorse during the appeal.