Panel to hear high-profile criminal cases
Published: 25 Jan. 2010, 01:17
The Supreme Court will assign high-profile criminal cases to panels composed of three judges instead of just one, hoping to ease the ongoing controversy over alleged “left-leaning” verdicts by the judiciary.
The move comes after conservatives and prosecutors criticized several recent district court decisions, saying they were the result of a liberal bias by the judge that oversaw each case.
Currently, most criminal trials - including high-profile cases - are initially assigned to a single judge at district courts. Although the court currently allows three-judge panels for controversial cases, it rarely happens in practice, at least in recent times.
“So far, politically controversial rulings have all been made in single-judge trials,” a senior official at the Supreme Court said. “From now on, high-profile cases will actively be tried by a three-judge panel.”
The court didn’t outline specific criteria for classifying what exactly is a high-profile case but said it will involve those with “significant meaning in society.”
The judiciary took a pounding after the Seoul Southern District Court acquitted Democratic Labor Party Representative Kang Ki-Kab of charges related to obstruction of justice and public duties. Kang faced the indictments after his violent acts at the National Assembly a year ago.
The Seoul Central District Court also acquitted five MBC staffers of charges that they had defamed government officials and obstructed the business of U.S. beef importers by broadcasting controversial “PD Diary” episodes about mad cow disease in 2008. The acquittals fueled the ire of conservatives and prosecutors, who said political preferences played a role in the decisions. Both acquittals were made in single-judge trials.
“It is necessary for high-profile cases to go through judges’ debates to reduce the perception and misunderstanding that rulings are influenced by a single judge,” said the Supreme Court official. “We are looking into ways to lift the burdens of the court by assigning more cases to three-judge panels.”
The Supreme Court will hold a meeting of district court heads of the capital region today, where it will discuss the move, sources said.
Under the Supreme Court’s internal regulations, which are legally binding, a high-profile or controversial case can in theory be tried by a three-judge panel. A judge who was initially assigned to the case can also make a request that the case be tried by a three-judge panel. However, few cases in recent times have been sent to a three-judge panel.
The Supreme Court source dismissed speculation that the court is mulling over a plan to allow only judges with more than 10 years of experience to preside over a criminal case alone. “We agree that veteran judges should preside over a single-judge trial, but creating a uniform standard is unrealistic,” he said.
Meanwhile, the acquittal rate has doubled over the past five years, a prosecution report showed, perhaps an indication of the widening discord between judges and prosecutors.
According to statistics released by the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office yesterday, the average annual acquittal rate for initial trials was 0.13 percent from 2000 to 2004.
The figure rose to 0.27 percent between 2005 to 2009, the period in which Lee Yong-hoon has been chief justice of the Supreme Court. The acquittal rate was 0.18 percent in 2005 and went up to 0.26 percent in 2007. The rate reached 0.37 percent in 2009.
Some prosecutors and judges believe that reforms spurred by Lee have been the cause of the change. Lee has promoted the idea that prosecutors must prove charges through evidence and testimonies rather than investigation paperwork.
“Testimonies given at the court and given to prosecutors during an investigation are treated unequally, and that’s the key reason behind the higher acquittal rate,” a prosecution official complained.
A Supreme Court official, however, said the change in acquittal rate is not surprising.
“As we have seen in other advanced countries, acquittal rates go up when rulings are made based on evidence and testimonies presented at courts rather than investigation records,” he said.
“It will go up to a certain level and then remain unchanged.”
By Kwon Suk-chun, Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]
The move comes after conservatives and prosecutors criticized several recent district court decisions, saying they were the result of a liberal bias by the judge that oversaw each case.
Currently, most criminal trials - including high-profile cases - are initially assigned to a single judge at district courts. Although the court currently allows three-judge panels for controversial cases, it rarely happens in practice, at least in recent times.
“So far, politically controversial rulings have all been made in single-judge trials,” a senior official at the Supreme Court said. “From now on, high-profile cases will actively be tried by a three-judge panel.”
The court didn’t outline specific criteria for classifying what exactly is a high-profile case but said it will involve those with “significant meaning in society.”
The judiciary took a pounding after the Seoul Southern District Court acquitted Democratic Labor Party Representative Kang Ki-Kab of charges related to obstruction of justice and public duties. Kang faced the indictments after his violent acts at the National Assembly a year ago.
The Seoul Central District Court also acquitted five MBC staffers of charges that they had defamed government officials and obstructed the business of U.S. beef importers by broadcasting controversial “PD Diary” episodes about mad cow disease in 2008. The acquittals fueled the ire of conservatives and prosecutors, who said political preferences played a role in the decisions. Both acquittals were made in single-judge trials.
“It is necessary for high-profile cases to go through judges’ debates to reduce the perception and misunderstanding that rulings are influenced by a single judge,” said the Supreme Court official. “We are looking into ways to lift the burdens of the court by assigning more cases to three-judge panels.”
The Supreme Court will hold a meeting of district court heads of the capital region today, where it will discuss the move, sources said.
Under the Supreme Court’s internal regulations, which are legally binding, a high-profile or controversial case can in theory be tried by a three-judge panel. A judge who was initially assigned to the case can also make a request that the case be tried by a three-judge panel. However, few cases in recent times have been sent to a three-judge panel.
The Supreme Court source dismissed speculation that the court is mulling over a plan to allow only judges with more than 10 years of experience to preside over a criminal case alone. “We agree that veteran judges should preside over a single-judge trial, but creating a uniform standard is unrealistic,” he said.
Meanwhile, the acquittal rate has doubled over the past five years, a prosecution report showed, perhaps an indication of the widening discord between judges and prosecutors.
According to statistics released by the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office yesterday, the average annual acquittal rate for initial trials was 0.13 percent from 2000 to 2004.
The figure rose to 0.27 percent between 2005 to 2009, the period in which Lee Yong-hoon has been chief justice of the Supreme Court. The acquittal rate was 0.18 percent in 2005 and went up to 0.26 percent in 2007. The rate reached 0.37 percent in 2009.
Some prosecutors and judges believe that reforms spurred by Lee have been the cause of the change. Lee has promoted the idea that prosecutors must prove charges through evidence and testimonies rather than investigation paperwork.
“Testimonies given at the court and given to prosecutors during an investigation are treated unequally, and that’s the key reason behind the higher acquittal rate,” a prosecution official complained.
A Supreme Court official, however, said the change in acquittal rate is not surprising.
“As we have seen in other advanced countries, acquittal rates go up when rulings are made based on evidence and testimonies presented at courts rather than investigation records,” he said.
“It will go up to a certain level and then remain unchanged.”
By Kwon Suk-chun, Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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