Supreme Court: "Admitting False Accusation in Appeal Petition is Also a Confession... Sentence Reduction Must Be Granted"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Supreme Court has ruled that if a defendant charged with false accusation states in the appeal that they filed a false complaint, this should be considered a confession and lead to a reduced sentence. Since there are no procedural restrictions on confessions, a confession made during the appellate trial, rather than during the investigation stage, must be recognized as a confession and the sentence must be reduced accordingly.

On the 8th, the Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jaehyung) overturned the original sentence of one year imprisonment handed down to street vendor Park, who was tried for false accusation, and remanded the case to the Daejeon District Court.

The Supreme Court stated, "Park confessed at the original trial that he filed a false complaint, and the person Park accused was not prosecuted at the time, so no trial proceedings were initiated," explaining that this constitutes a 'mandatory reason for sentence reduction.'

Park is a street vendor who travels nationwide selling training supplies to new recruits entering the military and police. In 2019, he filed a criminal complaint against another street vendor, Seo, with whom he had conflicts over location disputes, accusing Seo of special injury. Park claimed that Seo pushed him with a bundle of tents, causing injuries requiring two weeks of medical treatment.

However, during the prosecution's investigation, it was revealed that Park had falsely accused Seo. Accordingly, the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office decided not to prosecute Seo and indicted Park on charges of false accusation.

The first trial recognized Park's guilt. The court stated, "The motive and nature of the false accusation are quite bad, and it obstructed the proper exercise of the state's judicial authority," adding, "It also caused considerable mental distress to the accused," and sentenced him to one year imprisonment.

Park appealed on the grounds of unfair sentencing. In the process, he wrote in the appeal that he "fully admits to the charges of false accusation." The second trial rejected the claim of unfair sentencing and upheld the first trial's verdict.

The Supreme Court judged that Park's admission of guilt in the appeal constitutes a 'confession' and therefore the sentence should be reduced. The court pointed out, "Article 153 of the Criminal Act and related laws provide that if a person who committed false accusation confesses or surrenders before the trial of the accused is finalized, the sentence should be reduced or exempted."

Furthermore, the court stated, "The original court erred by not conducting the necessary examination and misapplying the law regarding confession as a mandatory reason for sentence reduction, which affected the judgment," and thus overturned and remanded the case.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.