Indicted on assault causing injury, convicted of simple assault
Plaintiff claimed prosecutor manipulated charges; court disagrees
A man with a prior assault conviction who was originally charged with the more serious offense of assault causing injury — only to be convicted of simple assault — sued the prosecutor who brought the original charges seven years ago for 77 million won (about $49,800) in damages. He lost.
The plaintiff, identified only as A, argued in court that the prosecutor had "fabricated the charges." The court rejected that claim, finding insufficient evidence that the prosecutor's judgment had been so unreasonable as to render the indictment unlawful. The court also found that the downgraded conviction reflected the trial court's own assessment that the victim's injuries were minor — not any misconduct by the prosecutor.
Judge Jeong Seung-hye of the Daegu District Court's Western Branch Civil Division 11 ruled against A on April 30, dismissing all of his claims and ordering him to bear the court costs. A had sued prosecutor B, demanding reimbursement of attorney fees across three trials, litigation costs and emotional damages totaling 77 million won.
The case dates to October 2017, when A got into an argument with a security guard over a parking dispute at an apartment complex. A allegedly knocked the guard to the ground, causing injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment. Prosecutor B filed a summary indictment against A on assault causing injury charges, seeking a fine of 1 million won (about $650).
A summary indictment is a procedure used for relatively minor offenses in which prosecutors request a summary order — essentially a fine — without a full trial. The court rules based on submitted documents alone. A full trial may be held if the court finds the summary procedure inappropriate, or if the defendant or prosecutors contest the summary order.
A contested the 1 million won summary order and requested a full trial. The first-instance court upheld the assault causing injury charge and imposed the same 1 million won fine. On appeal, the charge was reduced to simple assault and the fine lowered to 800,000 won. The appellate court said there was "room to consider" the injury as constituting assault causing injury, but found that the victim's wounds did not appear to interfere with daily life. The Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's simple assault conviction in 2021.
A filed a damages suit in August 2024 against prosecutor B, who had brought the original summary indictment seven years earlier. During the proceedings, A's side argued that B had "fabricated the criminal facts and filed the indictment," contending that CCTV footage and other evidence showed no basis for the assault causing injury charge and that B had caused A to be punished without justification.
The court was not persuaded.
The first-instance court cited Supreme Court precedent holding that prosecutors may bring charges when they have reasonable grounds to do so, and that even an eventual acquittal does not automatically render an indictment unlawful. The prosecutor's judgment must be so contrary to logic and common sense that its reasonableness cannot be affirmed at all.
The court added that evidence available at the time appeared to include a police incident report, the victim's statement, a suspect interrogation record and CCTV footage. It found insufficient grounds to conclude that B had filed charges without any evidence, or that B's judgment had reached the threshold of being wholly unreasonable.
The court noted in particular that a forensic analysis of the CCTV footage stated it was "highly likely" that A had applied physical force to the victim, causing the victim to rotate 270 degrees and roll to the ground.
The ruling is not yet final. A appealed on May 11, and the case is now pending before the Daegu District Court at the appellate level.
notstrong@heraldcorp.com
