Refusal of State Measurement), Violation of the Road Traffic Act (Unlicensed Driving), Road Traffic

Violation of the law of traffic (driving)

1. Article 457-2(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that “No sentence more severe than that imposed on a summary order shall be imposed in a case for which the defendant has requested formal trial” (Article 457-2(1) provides that the principle prohibiting the raise of punishment is set in a case for formal trial. This applies likewise to an appeal case against the judgment of the first instance that rendered a fine upon the defendant requesting formal trial.

2. The record reveals the following facts.

A. On January 15, 2019, the former District Court rendered a summary order of KRW 7 million to the Defendant regarding the violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents (Bodily Injury), the violation of the Road Traffic Act (the violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents), the violation of the Road Traffic Act (the violation of the Road Traffic Act) and the violation of the Road Traffic Act (the driver’s license without a license), and only the Defendant requested formal trial (the Defendant’s request for formal trial).

2) On May 14, 2019, the first instance court sentenced the Defendant to a fine of KRW 7 million, and the Defendant filed an appeal.

B. Of the two cases joined in the lower court, the progress of the case 2020-95 is as follows. 1) The Defendant was indicted to the Jeonju District Court on June 28, 2019 for the violation of the Road Traffic Act (driving) and the violation of the Road Traffic Act (Unlicensed Driving) (hereinafter “Act”) at the Jeonju District Court on June 28, 2019.

2) On January 14, 2020, the first instance court sentenced the Defendant to six months of imprisonment, and the Defendant filed an appeal.

C. The court below reversed the judgment of the court of first instance on April 9, 2020 after combining all of the above appeal cases ex officio, and decided that all of the crimes in its judgment were concurrent crimes and sentenced to six months of imprisonment.

3. Examining the above facts in light of the legal principles as seen earlier, the first instance court’s judgment erred in violation of the principle of prohibition of raising the punishment according to Article 457-2(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act and affected the conclusion of the judgment, even though the case was a case for which only the Defendant requested a formal trial against the summary order, the lower court selected and sentenced to imprisonment, which is more severe than the fine of the summary order.

4. Therefore, without examining the remaining grounds of appeal, the judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the court below for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench

Chief Justice Park Sang-ok

Justices Noh Jeong-chul

Justices Kim In-bok