'Maserati Hit-and-Run Driver' Sentenced to 7 Years and 6 Months in Prison—Acquitted of Drunk Driving Charge

[Financial News] A man in his 30s who caused a fatal accident while driving a high-end imported Maserati recklessly in Gwangju Metropolitan City and then fled the scene has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
According to the legal community on the 5th, the Supreme Court of Korea’s second division (Presiding Justice Eom Sang-pil) upheld the lower court’s sentence of seven years and six months in prison for Mr. Kim, who was indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (causing death by fleeing the scene), among other charges.
Mr. Kim was put on trial for fleeing after crashing his Maserati into a motorcycle while allegedly under the influence of alcohol on a road in Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, last September. The accident injured the motorcycle driver and killed his girlfriend, who was riding with him. The speed limit on the road was 50 km/h, but Mr. Kim was found to have been driving at approximately 128 km/h.
After the accident, Mr. Kim asked an acquaintance to "drive me to Daejeon because I need to escape after causing a drunk driving accident" and "get me a burner phone to avoid being tracked by investigative agencies."
The first trial sentenced Mr. Kim to 10 years in prison, but the appellate court acquitted him of the drunk driving and aiding a fugitive charges, reducing his sentence to seven years and six months.
Initially, the Police, who arrested Mr. Kim two days after the incident, applied the Widmark Formula to retroactively estimate his blood alcohol concentration. The result was below the legal limit of 0.03%, so the drunk driving charge was not applied. However, the Prosecution Service, upon taking over the case, claimed that Mr. Kim had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.093% at the time of the accident and charged him with drunk driving, later amending the indictment during the second trial to state '0.03% or higher.'
The appellate court noted, "The amount of alcohol consumed by the defendant, as determined by the investigative agencies, is merely an estimate and not an exact figure," and added, "It is not possible to estimate the blood alcohol concentration using the Widmark Formula based on such assumptions."
Regarding the charge of aiding a fugitive, the court stated, "The defendant’s actions can be seen as a typical form of evasion that does not significantly hinder the criminal justice process," and "it is difficult to view such intent or the resulting evasion as an abuse of the defendant’s rights as a criminal defendant."
Both the prosecutor and Mr. Kim appealed the verdict, but the Supreme Court of Korea dismissed the appeals, finding no fault with the lower court’s judgment.
Meanwhile, an acquaintance who was tried alongside Mr. Kim for helping him evade arrest was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, in the second trial. As no appeal was filed, the sentence was finalized.

jisseo@fnnews.com Seo Min-ji Reporter