Court: “Police coercion and false confession by the defendant… No motive for the crime”
Kim, released: “Sorry for not being able to protect my father”… Lawyer: “The power of truth”
Kim Shin-hye, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her father, was acquitted after a retrial held 24 years later and was released from prison in Jangheung, Jeollanam-do on the 6th. The image depicts a scene of a person, wrongfully accused and imprisoned for 20 years for the Hwaseong serial murders, handing Kim a bouquet after being acquitted in a retrial. (Jangheung News1) Reporter Choi Seong-guk
(News1) Reporter Choi Seong-guk = Kim Shin-hye (47, female), who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court for the murder of her father, was acquitted in a retrial after 24 years and was released.
The Gwangju District Court’s Haenam Branch sentenced Kim to acquittal in the retrial of her case, where she was previously confirmed for life imprisonment by the Supreme Court for parricide, on the 6th.
The sentencing hearing was conducted without Kim’s presence.
Kim (then 23) was indicted for allegedly murdering her father (then 52) with 30 sleeping pills mixed in two glasses of whiskey in Wando County on March 7, 2000, and abandoning the body in front of a deserted bus stop in the early hours of the same day in Jeongdori, Wando County.
The investigative agency at the time suspected Kim as the culprit, citing sexual abuse by her father and a “large insurance payout” as motives.
Kim, influenced by a relative, went to the police station and confessed, “I’m the culprit.”
During the trial, Kim claimed, “After hearing from an uncle that it seemed my brother killed my father, I falsely confessed to go to prison instead of my brother,” asserting her innocence.
The Supreme Court confirmed a life imprisonment sentence for Kim.
In 2015, the court accepted Kim’s appeal for a retrial citing police coercion, warrantless searches, and procedural illegality.
Her defense was handled by Park Jun-young, a lawyer specializing in retrials. The trial was repeatedly delayed due to the defendant’s unstable mental state, and several lawyers changed before Park concluded the case.
The prosecution, even during the retrial, argued that “the investigative agency at the time conducted no illegal investigations and the culprit is indeed Kim,” seeking the same life imprisonment as the original sentence.
However, the retrial court’s judgment was “not guilty.”
The court found that Kim made a “false confession” to protect her brother and determined that the coerced statements and related evidence obtained by the police had “no evidential value.”
The court stated that Kim’s motive and method of the crime differed from the prosecution’s claims.
The court revealed, “The autopsy did not find any traces of drug consumption. The defendant could not have killed her father for the insurance money, which could only be claimed without issue after two years, especially given her qualification as an insurance planner. There’s also no acknowledgment of sexual abuse by the victim on the defendant.”
The court added, “The defendant contacted friends before the presumed time of the crime. If friends had shown up, it could have disrupted any plans, which doesn’t align with calculated murder behavior.”
The court concluded, “The victim’s blood-alcohol concentration at the time of death was 0.303%, which could independently cause death. Considering the lack of evidential capability and the difficulty in guaranteeing authenticity and voluntariness of the defendant’s past confession, the defendant is acquitted.”
Upon her release from Jangheung Prison, Kim stated, “I’m sorry for not having protected my father who suffered until his passing” and added, “It would have been great if the wrongs had been corrected sooner, but thinking about this being resolved after 24 years within the Korean legal system, and how challenging it was, came to my mind.”
Kim was greeted by Yoon Seong-yeo, who was also wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years in the Hwaseong serial murder case, Jang Dong-ik, cleared after 21 years from retrial for the Nakdong Riverside murder case, along with retrial lawyer Park Jun-young outside the prison gates.
They offered Kim a bouquet and shared their experiences of being treated as criminals and offenders, extending comfort.
Lawyer Park Jun-young emphasized, “The strongest evidence was the power of the truth asserted by the party claiming innocence for 24 years,” and added, “The truth wasn’t buried, thanks to public awareness by a human rights activist. The truth eventually prevails.”
He further stated, “For 24 years, the defendant fought alone without any work in solitary confinement,” stressing the need for “community effort to ensure that the case is not consumed post-release and to help heal the defendant’s mind and wounds.”
Though Kim was acquitted in the first retrial, if the prosecution appeals, the second trial will proceed at the Gwangju High Court.