Legal advice on the crime of destruction of evidence | Legal advice on whether the crime of destruction of evidence is established

🔗the crime of destruction of evidence The client visited Daeryun Law Firm to obtain advice on the precise question of whether this crime was established and on their own situation.

The client received word that their mother had died of asphyxiation while eating in a single room at a nursing facility.

The client held the funeral right away and did not separately report the matter by calling 112. They thought it was a sudden and tragic event caused by old age.

However, they learned that the care worker had been away for a long time, and realized that their mother had died of asphyxiation while left alone.

The client requested the CCTV footage, but the nursing facility did not provide the material, so they ultimately filed an application for preservation of evidence with the court and obtained a written decision.

However, in response to the court's request to submit opinions, the nursing facility stated that no footage existed.

Believing that the nursing facility had concealed the footage, the client sought legal advice on whether the crime of destruction of evidence was established and whether representation in filing a complaint was possible.

The crime of destruction of evidence is provided for in the Criminal Act.

A person who, ① in relation to a criminal or disciplinary case of another, ② destroys, ③ conceals, forges, or alters evidence, or who uses forged or altered evidence, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine not exceeding 7 million won.

In other words, there must be an act of destroying or concealing evidence in another person's criminal case. Reinterpreting the statute, if one destroys evidence in one's own criminal case, there is no room for the crime of destruction of evidence to be established.

The first element of destruction of evidence is that it must concern another person's criminal case.

In the client's situation, the care worker had been the subject of a criminal complaint filed by the client for occupational negligence causing death.

This is a criminal case concerning the care worker, and because the person against whom the destruction-of-evidence complaint is directed is the nursing facility, the requirement of ‘another person's criminal case’ is satisfied.

The second element of destruction of evidence is evidence.

All materials recognized as relevant to an investigative agency's or court's determination of whether the State's right to punish exists in another person's criminal case are regarded as evidence for purposes of destruction of evidence.

Therefore, any material related to the case can be regarded as evidence.

The third element of destruction of evidence is the act of destruction.

The client filed an application for preservation of evidence with the court and obtained a written decision, believing they had secured the footage.

However, the nursing facility merely returned a written answer stating that no footage existed.

In response to the client's request, the facility did not answer that there was no material or that it was difficult to provide, but instead answered that it would provide it as soon as approval from headquarters was obtained.

From this, it can be inferred that an act of destruction occurred.

The client who received legal advice on the establishment of the crime of destruction of evidence was satisfied.

At Daeryun Law Firm, criminal law specialist attorneys with abundant practical experience and expertise in criminal cases provide consultations and legal advice based on an accurate grasp of the facts.

In the course of representing the client in filing a complaint, if additional evidence is needed, we will lead a solid argument proving the charges through a collaborative request for independent evidence investigation by experts affiliated with the Daeryun Law Firm Criminal Group.

If you feel lost in your own case, from the stage of determining whether a crime is established to the work of gathering evidence, Daeryun Law Firm can resolve everything at once.