If a person who has possessory right continues to retain it with the knowledge of the fact that it is an stolen, the nature of the crime of safekeeping stolen property

If a stolen, which is well-known, has been kept in custody and thereafter becomes aware of the fact that it is a stolen, an act of keeping it continuously with the knowledge of such fact constitutes the crime of stolen, but even if there is a right to possess it even in such case, the crime of keeping stolen is not established even if it is kept continuously.

Article 362 of the Criminal Act

Defendant

Prosecutor

Suwon District Court Decision 85No682 delivered on September 26, 1985

The appeal is dismissed.

We examine the prosecutor's grounds of appeal.

The act of keeping stolen goods without knowledge of the fact that they are stolen after being kept in custody and thereafter becomes aware of the fact that they are stolen, even if they are in possession, it constitutes the stolen goods crime, but even if they are held in possession, the act of keeping stolen goods does not constitute the crime of keeping stolen goods even if they are kept continuously. In the same purport, the court below is just in the disposition that acquitted the defendant on the ground that the act of keeping stolen goods is not the crime of keeping stolen goods, and there is no error in the misapprehension of legal principles, such as the theory of lawsuit. The argument is without merit.

Therefore, the appeal is dismissed. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench.

Justices O Sung-sung(Presiding Justice)