A 20-year-old sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a drunken acquaintance was found not guilty on appeal.

A man in his 20s who was put on trial for sexually assaulting a drunken acquaintance and sentenced to prison in the first trial was found not guilty on appeal.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Chuncheon 1st Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court overturned the first trial ruling and declared not guilty in the appeal trial of Mr. A, a man in his 20s who was put on trial on charges of quasi-rape last October.

In 2021, Mr. A was indicted on charges of following Mr. B, who was drunk, into his room and sexually assaulting him while they were drinking together at the house of his acquaintance, Mr. B, and was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison in the first trial.

Person A denied the charges, saying he had never had sexual intercourse with Person B. They also argued that Mr. B's statement changed at each stage of the investigation and was unreliable given that he described the damage in such detail that it was difficult to say he was intoxicated.

However, the first trial judged that Mr. B's statement was so specific and natural that he could not say it without first-hand experience, and determined that there had been sexual intercourse between the two. Although some memory loss may occur over time, the key point is that the reliability can be recognized by consistently stating the information.

The appellate court's decision was different. The court said that Mr. B's statements regarding sexual relations were consistent and detailed, so it was difficult to reject them, but that it could not be concluded that he was in a drunken state of mind or body or was incapable of resisting. Although the amount of alcohol consumed at the time exceeded the usual amount of alcohol, it was not enough to cause loss of consciousness as it was consumed slowly over several hours, and because Mr.

When Ms. B was questioned by her boyfriend about her relationship with Mr. A, she sued Mr. A. In the process, the court found that it was difficult to rule out the possibility that Ms. B gave a defensive response and somewhat exaggerated the situation, or that her feelings of harm were expressed due to her boyfriend's influence.

Attorney Lee Ji-yeon of the Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A in the appeal trial, said, "If the victim's statement serves as evidence of guilt because there is no direct evidence to admit the indictment, there must be no reasonable doubt about its contents. We emphasized that the credibility of the statement was reduced based on the fact that the statement was changed at each stage of the trial, whether Mr. B was too drunk to resist at the time."

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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A man in his 20s sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a drunken acquaintance is found not guilty on appeal (Shortcut)