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Court upholds 7 1/2-year sentence for man who killed motorcyclist in Maserati crash

Published: 05 Nov. 2025, 10:42 Updated: 05 Nov. 2025, 12:24

The driver, surnamed Kim, of the Maserati involved in a fatal hit-and-run is transferred to prosecutors from the Gwangju Seo Police Precinct in Seo District, Gwangju, on Oct. 4, 2024. [YONHAP]

The Supreme Court has upheld a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a man in his 30s who fled after causing a fatal crash in a Maserati in Gwangju last year.

Legal sources said Wednesday that the court confirmed the appellate ruling against 32-year-old man surnamed Kim last month, who was convicted of fleeing the scene of a deadly crash, a crime subject to enhanced penalties under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

On the morning of Sept. 24, 2024, Kim rear-ended a motorcycle carrying a delivery worker and his girlfriend in the Hwajeong-dong neighborhood of Seo District, Gwangju. The delivery worker was injured, while his girlfriend was killed. Kim fled the scene immediately after the crash.

Investigators later found that Kim contacted acquaintances, asking them to drive him to Daejeon to evade capture and to obtain a burner phone to avoid being tracked. Prosecutors said he attempted to cover up the incident and obstruct the investigation.

Officials from the National Forensic Service conduct a detailed inspection of the Maserati involved in the fatal hit-and-run at the Gwangju Seo Police Precinct on Sept. 25, 2024. [YONHAP]

A lower court initially sentenced Kim to 10 years in prison, finding him guilty on a number of charges, including drunk driving and enlisting abettors to flee. However, the appeals court acquitted him of those two charges, citing insufficient evidence to determine his blood alcohol level and ruling that his actions did not amount to a criminal offense.

“Investigators merely speculated about Kim’s alcohol consumption, which cannot be used to estimate his blood alcohol level under the Widmark formula,” the court said, citing a common method to estimate blood alcohol concentration.

Under legal precedent, a suspect fleeing on their own is not punishable, and asking others for help is not a crime unless it involves coercing someone into a false confession.

Both Kim and prosecutors appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed the case, finding no errors in the appellate ruling.

In a related case, a 34-year-old man surnamed Oh received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for aiding Kim’s escape by providing him with a burner phone. Oh did not appeal, making the sentence final.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]