CONTENTS
- 1. Background of the Case of the Client Who Came to the Criminal Specialist Attorney
- 2. The Level of Punishment for Intrusion upon Habitation Reviewed by the Criminal Specialist Attorney
- - The Level of Punishment for Intrusion upon Habitation
- 3. The Criminal Specialist Attorney's Assistance
- - 1. Given the Circumstances of the Client Entering the Room, Intent Is Not Established, So Intrusion upon Habitation Is Not Constituted
- - 2. The Client Had No Intent to Commit Intrusion upon Habitation
- 4. Defending Against the Client's Punishment With Non-Referral Through the Criminal Specialist Attorney's Assistance
1. Background of the Case of the Client Who Came to the Criminal Specialist Attorney
The content of the case of the client who came to the criminal law specialist attorney is as follows.
The client had recently been staying together in a hospital room to care for his wife, who had been admitted.
While trying to return to his wife's hospital room after drinking, having had a social drinking engagement outside the hospital, the intoxicated client ended up entering another woman's hospital room.
In the dead of night, with nothing visible, the victimized woman, startled at sensing the client's presence, screamed.
The client, flustered, immediately explained that he had entered by mistake, but the victim subsequently filed a complaint against the client on a charge of intrusion upon habitation, and the client was placed at risk of punishment.
The client, who had been caught up in the crime unintentionally, came to the criminal law specialist attorney to request assistance in order to defend against punishment, and the attorney established a strategy to defend against punishment in order to obtain a non-referral disposition.
2. The Level of Punishment for Intrusion upon Habitation Reviewed by the Criminal Specialist Attorney
The criminal law specialist attorney confirmed the level of punishment for intrusion upon habitation, the client's alleged offense.
The Level of Punishment for Intrusion upon Habitation
Let us look at the level of punishment for the crime of intrusion upon habitation, addressed in Chapter 36, Article 319 of the Criminal Act.
The crime of intrusion upon habitation is a crime that breaks the peace of a habitation in which a person dwells. It is established when a person, without justifiable reason, intrudes upon another's habitation, a managed structure, a vessel, an aircraft, or an occupied room, or fails to comply when the owner has demanded that the person leave.
| A person who intrudes upon a person's habitation, a managed structure, a vessel or aircraft, or an occupied room | Imprisonment for up to 3 years or a fine of up to 5 million won |
| A person who fails to comply with a demand to leave | |
| A person who commits the offense of the preceding article by displaying the power of an organization or a crowd or while carrying a dangerous object | Imprisonment for up to 5 years |
| A person who searches a person's body, habitation, managed structure, automobile, vessel or aircraft, or occupied room | Imprisonment for up to 3 years |
The criminal law attorney closely examined the elements of the crime in order to determine whether the client's allegation fell under the crime of intrusion upon habitation.
Under Article 319 of the Criminal Act, the scope of habitation is as follows.
－ A person's habitation － A managed structure － A vessel － An aircraft － An occupied room |
A 'habitation' is a place where a person resides and which is used for sleeping and eating, and regardless of whether it is temporary or continuous, even a villa lived in for a certain period may be included.
According to recent precedent, the act of intruding, against the express or implied intent of the residents, into elevators, hallways, and the like inside multi-household single-family houses, multi-unit dwellings, row houses, and other multi-unit residences has also been held to constitute the crime of intrusion upon habitation.
Intrusion means a mode of conduct that breaks the de facto state of peace of a habitation by entering the habitation, where a part of the body enters against the intent of the resident or manager. For example, the crime of intrusion upon habitation may be established merely by an act such as pushing a hand or face through a window.
The criminal law attorney established a strategy to defend the client against punishment, making these elements of the offense the central issue.
3. The Criminal Specialist Attorney's Assistance
The criminal law specialist attorney provided the following assistance to defend the client against punishment.
1. Given the Circumstances of the Client Entering the Room, Intent Is Not Established, So Intrusion upon Habitation Is Not Constituted
The attorney specializing in criminal law cited the following precedent to argue that, as the client's alleged conduct lacked intent, the crime of intrusion upon habitation was not established.
| Considering, in sum, that 1. the defendant was heavily intoxicated, stumbling while walking and bumping into a parked truck, 2. although the defendant encountered the victim in the alley in front of the building, he appears not to have seen the victim afterward, 3. even after being seen by the victim, the defendant did not behave so as to hurriedly leave the scene, and 4. there were other people around the building, so it was not generally a state in which it would be easy to resolve to commit a crime, there is room to find that the defendant, in a heavily intoxicated state at the time, mistook the building for his own home and tried to enter it, and the court accordingly rendered an acquittal. (Seoul Central District Court, decided October 15, 2021, 2020No3359) |
The attorney specializing in criminal law strongly argued that the client lacked intent, based on the fact that even after seeing the victim, the client did not hurriedly leave the scene but apologized and then turned back out.
It was also argued that the client was heavily intoxicated at the time and, mistaken as a result, merely committed the offense in question.
2. The Client Had No Intent to Commit Intrusion upon Habitation
The criminal specialist attorney explained that, at the time of this incident, the client had drunk about four bottles of beer and soju and was in a state of heavy intoxication.
Pointing to the fact that the client, upon seeing the victim shouting in the hospital room he had entered by mistake, explained that he had entered the wrong room, the attorney argued that the client had merely entered the victim's hospital room while heavily intoxicated, mistaking it for his wife's room, and that there had been no intent to commit intrusion upon habitation.
The attorney argued that the client's wife's hospital room and the room the client entered by mistake were so close as to be right next to each other, and that, being intoxicated, he had simply become confused and entered the wrong room, so that there had been no intent to commit intrusion upon habitation.
4. Defending Against the Client's Punishment With Non-Referral Through the Criminal Specialist Attorney's Assistance
The police, having accepted the criminal specialist attorney's arguments, issued a non-referral disposition for insufficient evidence and closed the case for the client.
The court found that, although the client's criminal acts were recognized, there is no provision punishing intrusion upon habitation (intrusion into a room) committed through negligence, and that there was no other evidence to find that the client had intentionally entered the room for the purpose of committing the offense or for another purpose.
If, like the client in this case, you are unfairly placed at risk of punishment on an intrusion upon habitation charge, we hope you will, through a 🔗legal consultation reservation with our firm's criminal specialist attorney, conduct a defense strategy and a response to defend against punishment that promptly grasps the case and proves no suspicion, and conclude the case promptly.
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