Victim had been living at suspect's home after losing his residence

Argument broke out while drinking; suspect attacked when victim began shouting

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Not related to this article. [Image generated by AI]

A man in his 60s who stabbed and killed a friend of 30 years during a drinking dispute has had his 15-year prison sentence finalized.

According to legal sources, the Supreme Court's First Division, presided over by Justice Ma Yong-ju, recently upheld the lower court's 15-year sentence in the final appeal of A (64) on murder charges.

A was accused of stabbing and killing victim B (then 59) at a multi-unit residential building in Sanbuk-dong, Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, at around 12:23 a.m. on Dec. 4 last year.

The two men had met as senior and junior colleagues at a former workplace and had known each other for about 30 years. B, who had no fixed residence, had been living at A's home for four months before the incident, according to the investigation.

On the night of the incident, the two were drinking together when B began shouting. An argument broke out as A tried to calm him down, which escalated into a physical altercation before A grabbed a weapon and attacked.

B had a habit of shouting or singing loudly while drunk, and A had received multiple complaints from neighbors asking him to keep the noise down, causing his frustration to build over time.

B was transported to a hospital after A called for help, but he died from his injuries. A described the circumstances of the incident to emergency services and was arrested at the scene.

The trial court sentenced A, who had been indicted in detention, to 15 years in prison. The court said it was "difficult to find any particularly mitigating circumstances in the motive or background of the killing, and the nature of the crime is poor given the method used," but added that it took into account as favorable factors that A admitted to the crime, that the act appeared to be impulsive, and that he had called emergency services and taken follow-up action.

However, the court stopped short of treating A's call as a voluntary surrender, noting that A had maintained to police that he had not intended to kill the victim.

Both A and prosecutors appealed, but the appellate court rejected both.

In the appeal, A argued for a reduced sentence on grounds of diminished mental capacity, claiming he had been so intoxicated at the time that he could not remember what happened.

The appellate court rejected the claim, citing closed-circuit television footage from A's home showing him returning from a nearby convenience store after buying alcohol about 20 minutes before the attack. The court also noted that he had given a detailed account of the incident to emergency services immediately afterward and provided a thorough statement to police later that day.

The Supreme Court also dismissed A's final appeal, finding no legal error in the lower court's reasoning.

A also argued that his arrest at the scene had been unlawful and that the prosecution had abused its authority, but the Supreme Court rejected those claims as well, saying they did not constitute valid grounds for appeal.

The court said arguments that the lower court erred by not applying a sentencing reduction for voluntary surrender amounted to a challenge to sentencing, adding that "considering various conditions, it cannot be said that the lower court's sentence of 15 years in prison was unjust."


jshan@heraldcorp.com