(Comprehensive) "Cleared of Killing His Wife"... A Not-Guilty Verdict He Never Lived to Hear

Court: "Cannot rule out drowsy driving...insufficient evidence"
Investigative violations acknowledged...verdict after 23 years
Leukemia death followed by acquittal...belated restoration of honor

On the 11th, Park Junyoung, legal counsel for the late Jang, a life-sentenced prisoner in the "reservoir fall accident wife murder" case, and members of the bereaved family expressed their reactions in front of the criminal courtroom at the Haenam Branch of the Gwangju District Court in Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, immediately after the late Jang was posthumously acquitted in a retrial. Photo by Min Hyeongi

"He spent 19 years in prison, falsely branded as a despicable man who killed his beloved wife to collect insurance money. He passed away in the end without ever hearing this not-guilty verdict."

A life-sentenced prisoner, who had been convicted of killing his wife and served 19 years behind bars, was acquitted by the court 23 years after the incident and 1 year and 10 months after his death.

On the 11th, the First Criminal Division of the Haenam Branch of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Seongheum) acquitted the late Mr. Jang (66 at the time of death) in a retrial ruling on charges of murder, for which he had been sentenced to life imprisonment and died while serving his term.

Mr. Jang had been indicted on charges of intentionally causing a crash while driving a 1-ton truck at around 8:39 p.m. on July 9, 2003, at the intersection in front of Myeonggeum Reservoir (now Songjeong Reservoir) in Uisin-myeon, Jindo County, Jeollanam-do, thereby killing his wife (then 45), who was in the passenger seat.

At the time, prosecutors argued that Mr. Jang deliberately caused the accident in order to obtain about 930 million won in insurance money taken out in his wife's name. Mr. Jang consistently maintained that it was a "simple accident caused by drowsy driving," but both the first and second instance courts, as well as the Supreme Court, accepted the prosecution's allegations as proven and finalized the life sentence in 2005.

However, the retrial court, convened 23 years later, reached a different conclusion. The court ruled not guilty, stating, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecutor, there is insufficient proof to rule out the possibility of drowsy driving and to conclude that Mr. Jang intentionally killed his wife."

Regarding the steering operation at the time of the accident, which was the key issue, the court found that "even if the driver had gone straight through the intersection without turning the steering wheel to the left as alleged in the indictment, the truck still could have crashed into the reservoir." The court went on to explain, "It also cannot be ruled out that the accident occurred because the defendant may have unconsciously tried to avoid a rock hidden in the weeds at the crash site."

Serious procedural violations in the investigation were also confirmed. The court stated unequivocally, "Immediately after the accident, the police retrieved the vehicle from the reservoir and seized it without a warrant, and therefore the National Forensic Service's appraisal results and other evidence based on that seizure are illegally obtained and inadmissible." This amounts to an official confirmation by the court that the investigative authorities pushed ahead with the case in a reckless manner without observing even the most basic procedures.

The court also sided with Mr. Jang on the issues of "insurance money" and "financial difficulties," which the prosecution had presented as strong motives for murder. The court held, "The mere fact that the defendant was in a difficult financial situation or that he had taken out multiple insurance policies is not enough to definitively establish a sufficient motive to kill his wife," adding, "The defendant's explanation regarding the circumstances under which the insurance policies were taken out is fully convincing."

After the hearing ended that day, attorney Park Junyoung, who had served as Mr. Jang's legal representative, spoke in front of the courtroom with deep regret. Park said he welcomed the restoration of the deceased's honor, stating, "It is human nature not to tolerate even a minor injustice, and it is almost impossible to imagine the agony of living 19 years under the false accusation of having killed one's beloved wife."

Park said, "During visits while he was alive, he protested his innocence, saying, 'How could I kill the wife with whom I lived for 24 years, and the mother of my three children, for money?'" He added, "At the same time, he suffered from guilt over the fact that his wife died because of his serious negligence in driving while drowsy."

He did not forget to sharply criticize the investigative authorities and the judiciary. Park pointed out, "This case is the result of combined mistakes by everyone involved: the police and prosecutors at the time, the National Forensic Service, which produced a shoddy appraisal, and the judges who failed to filter it out," and added, "But because it is described as 'everyone's fault,' it is ending up as if it were 'no one's fault.' It is regrettable that not a single person is being held accountable."

Meanwhile, this case was nearly consigned to becoming a permanent cold case, but former Inspector Jeon Usang, an active-duty police officer at the time, reignited the spark of retrial by reexamining the case records and raising suspicions of a "botched investigation." The findings from Jeon's reinvestigation, combined with courageous testimony from members of a Marine Corps veterans' association and an insurance planner, finally opened the long-closed door to a retrial.

Mr. Jang had filed for retrial three times since 2009, but all of his petitions were dismissed, and it was only in January 2024 that the Supreme Court, after many twists and turns, granted a decision to commence a retrial. However, last April, just 15 days before the first long-awaited retrial hearing, he died after battling acute leukemia. Coincidentally, the day he died was the very day his sentence had been suspended.

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