MP Taxi Cab Assault Goes to Trial

The MP involved in the assault of Uijongbu taxi driver last March is now on trial and the typical Korean court room theatrics are taking place:

An exasperated prosecutor repeatedly raised his voice at the elderly victim, Yoon Boon-ha, while questioning how Pvt. Michael Curtis Adams, 21, beat him and then stole his taxi.

Yoon wrote in a statement to police that Adams punched him, but didn’t write that Adams struck him with a 16-ounce bottle.

Yoon told the three-judge panel Tuesday that he felt the bottle strike his right eye but never saw the bottle.

Yoon said he was agitated while making his police statement.

The MP denies using a beer bottle in his crime and says he just punched him and stole the taxi.  It should be real easy to determine if the taxi cab driver was hit with a beer bottle because I have seen people hit with beer bottles before and it is not pretty.  If the cab driver didn’t have any big lacerations then he wasn’t hit over the head with a beer bottle.  The cab driver is trying to get the soldier convicted for a using a weapon during the crime instead of just punching him and stealing the cab.  If he can convince the court a weapon was used against him then he can get a bigger compensation payment.  Look at what the cab driver is already demanding:

Adams now faces up to seven years in prison. A financial settlement could mitigate the sentence, but Yoon is asking for 50,000,000 won, or about $54,000. Such settlements are common in South Korean court, but Yoon’s asking price is far higher than most similar settlements.

I have never seen a settlement in a taxi cab related incident this high and it is highly unlikely the cab driver will receive that kind of money especially from a private.  The private in question seems to be a real winner:

Adams showed up in court Tuesday in a beige South Korean prison uniform and a new, spiky mohawk haircut.

The new look appeared to surprise court officials, who last saw him June 5 wearing a regulation military haircut and an Army combat uniform.

First of all he is an idiot for giving that kind of appearance in a Korean court room where a professional appearances go a long way.  Secondly his unit is still responsible for him and should be responsible for ensuring that he complies with military regulations by having an authorized military haircut, not a spiked mohawk.  He also should be wearing his Army Class A uniform and not prison garb in the courtroom.  He may be a dirtbag but he is still someones soldier that should be supervised to ensure he is doing everything possible to help his case, a mohawk is doing nothing to help his case.  His appearance in the courtroom is only making things worse than they already are for him.