[Yonhap]
[Yonhap]

A court has again declined to convict a man in his 40s of assault causing death after a physical altercation between apartment building representatives left one man dead. While the court found a causal link between the assault and the victim's death, it ruled there was insufficient evidence that the defendant could have foreseen the fatal outcome.

According to legal sources Monday, the Suwon High Court's First Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Shin Hyeon-il, dismissed appeals from both the prosecution and the defense in the case of defendant A. The original sentence — guilty only on the lesser charge of assault, with 10 months in prison suspended for two years — was left intact.

A was indicted after allegedly assaulting a fellow building representative, a man in his 50s identified as B, following an argument at the management office of an apartment complex in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Feb. 28, 2024, at around 7:40 p.m. The dispute arose over issues including the placement of illegal parking notices.

A punched and kicked B in the face and other parts of his body after the two moved outside the management office. B walked a few steps before collapsing and was taken to a hospital, where he died of acute cardiac arrest.

Prosecutors charged A with assault causing death, arguing the attack was the direct cause of the victim's death.

Both the trial court and the appeals court acknowledged a causal link between the assault and the death but found the evidence insufficient to establish that A could have foreseen a fatal result.

The appeals court said in its ruling that while witness testimony confirmed A had kicked B in the face, A appeared to have been physically restrained by bystanders at the time, making it unlikely he could deliver a full-force kick.

The court added that a National Forensic Service assessment could not conclusively establish that the severity of the assault had threatened the victim's life. "Although a kick to the face can potentially be fatal, given the circumstances — including that the defendant was being held back — it cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt that he could have foreseen his assault would cause the victim's death," the court said in explaining its acquittal on the assault-causing-death charge.

On sentencing, the court rejected the appeals as well, saying the lower court appeared to have given adequate consideration to all relevant sentencing factors.

The trial court had similarly ruled that "given that the victim had no known underlying health conditions and was physically larger than the defendant, it would not have been easy to anticipate that the assault would result in death."

In explaining the suspended sentence on the simple assault conviction, the trial court noted that the victim had struck the defendant in the face first during the altercation, that the offense was somewhat impulsive in nature, and that the defendant showed remorse.

The ruling reaffirms an established legal standard: even where a causal link between an assault and a victim's death is recognized, a conviction for assault causing death under criminal law requires strict proof that the defendant could have foreseen the fatal outcome.


rainbow@heraldcorp.com