'Valley Murder' Lee Eunhae and Jo Hyunsoo Appear for Warrant Hearing... Public Defender Appointed

Suspects Lee Eun-hae (31, left) and Jo Hyun-soo (30) in the "Valley Murder Case" are entering Incheon District Court on the afternoon of the 19th to undergo a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review). [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The suspects in the 'Gapyeong Valley Murder Case,' Lee Eunhae (31) and Jo Hyunsoo (30), appeared in court on the 19th for a pre-trial detention hearing (warrant substantive examination).

Lee and Jo were transferred from Incheon Detention Center to the Incheon District Court's warrant substantive examination courtroom in the afternoon.

Appearing before the courtroom to the press, they did not respond to reporters' questions such as "Are you not sorry to the deceased and the bereaved family? Do you admit to the planned murder?"

The warrant substantive examination was held at 3:30 PM under the presiding of Judge So Byungjin, head judge in charge of warrants at the Incheon District Court, and the decision on detention is expected to be made later in the afternoon.

The court appointed public defenders for each of them as they had not retained lawyers by the morning of the hearing.

Lee is accused of murdering her husband A (39 years old at the time of death) on June 30, 2019, at Yongsogyeok Valley in Gapyeong-gun, together with her lover Jo.

The prosecution believes that Lee and others forced A, who could not swim at all, to dive into the valley without any equipment and ignored his calls for help, resulting in his death.

The prosecution applied the charge of so-called 'murder by omission,' asserting that they deliberately did not rescue A despite being able to do so, motivated by the 800 million KRW life insurance money taken out in A's name.

Earlier, they were also accused of attempting to kill A in February and May of the same year by feeding him food mixed with pufferfish poison and by drowning him in a fishing pond.

Lee and others fled before their second prosecution investigation on December 14 last year but were apprehended by the police on the 16th near Samsong Station in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province, at an officetel after four months in hiding.

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