American citizen Arthur Patterson (C), accused of murdering a South Korean college student in 1997, is taken away by prison officials at the Seoul High Court on Sept. 13, 2016, after the court convicted him of stabbing a college student multiple times at a Burger King in the foreigner-friendly Itaewon Ward in central Seoul. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, which is the severest possible penalty for the defendant who was then an adolescent. (Yonhap)
What a mess this entire Burger King murder case has been over the past 2 decades, but fortunately some justice appears to have finally be served in this case. Still 20 years in prison still seems too lenient for this guy:
Arthur Patterson
A Seoul court on Friday convicted U.S. citizen Arthur Patterson of murder in the lurid Itaewon murder case and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, almost 19 years after the murder.
The Seoul Central District Court found the 36-year-old guilty of fatally stabbing Hongik University student Cho Jung-pil on April 3, 1997, in a Burger King in the capital’s popular Itaewon district.
Cho was found dead in the restroom of a fast food restaurant, stabbed nine times in the neck and chest.
“There was credibility in confessions by Edward Lee, while Patterson’s comments were inconsistent and contradicted evidence,” the Seoul Central District Court said in the ruling.
Patterson was extradited to Korea in September to face charges in a reopened investigation into the case and maintained his innocence throughout.
Patterson has denied the murder charge, blaming Lee. The two men were both in the restaurant at the time of the murder, and both accused the other of being the killer.
The court said Patterson’s bloodstained clothes and hands pinpointed him as the assailant. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is the latest on the Itaewon Burger King murder trial:
Arthur Patterson
Prosecutors on Friday demanded 20 years in jail for a U.S. citizen charged with slaying a Korean man nearly two decades ago.
Arthur Patterson, who was 17 at the time, is accused of stabbing 22-year-old college student Cho Joong-pil multiple times to his death inside a bathroom at a Burger King in Itaewon, a neighborhood popular with foreigners here, in 1997.
During a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, prosecutors demanded the maximum term for minors under the age of 18, saying the suspect should in fact be jailed for life.
In demanding the sentence, they cited the brutality of the crime, Patterson’s attitude during the trial, and their judgment based on reenactments of the scene at the time.
Patterson has insisted on his innocence, saying his then-friend Edward Lee committed the crime.
Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 but later acquitted by the Supreme Court due to lack of evidence. [Yonhap]
