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]
This is some pretty harsh punishment for not helping make a lunchbox. Unsurprisingly the assault involved alcohol:
A father, identified only as Jeong, 40, has been arrested for stabbing his teenage son for not listening to him, Yonhap reported Sunday.
Police in Ulsan said Jeong stabbed his son, 14, twice – once in the chest and once in the leg on Jan. 13. He told them he stabbed the teenager because the boy did not help him prepare a lunchbox for the daughter, 10. The father was drunk, having consumed half a bottle of soju, police said.
Jeong then carried his son to an emergency room. The boy is in a hospital receiving treatment.
The man recently separated from his wife and was raising the two children, police said. Jeong did not have a criminal record but was arrested to protect the boy, they said [Korea Times]
Ultimately the authorities were able to catch the crazy man threatening passengers with a knife, but I am not sure what authorities in Seoul can do to prevent crazy people from doing crazy things:
Authorities on Tuesday apprehended a middle-aged man who was alleged to have brandished a 10-inch knife and threatened passengers onboard a subway train in Seoul during morning rush hour.
The suspect, determined later to be a 51-year-old homeless man, was caught more than an hour after the episode, in which he brandished a knife onboard a train on subway line No. 1 around 8:20 a.m., before exiting at Jonggak Station.
No injuries were reported, though the incident highlighted a barrage of loopholes present in subway security systems in the capital, with a population density almost twice that of New York City and where more than 7 million people on average use the trains daily.
Last year, police recorded 3,040 crimes at local subway stations, up 58 percent from the 1,922 cases in 2013.
The most apparent oversight, however, is the lack of security resources and personnel. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
This crime is absolutely horrible. It almost seems like they wanted to get caught though leaving body parts of their son at their friend’s house:
Parents accused of the murder and dismemberment of their 7-year-old boy return to their former residence in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, for a reenactment of the crime, Thursday. The father, left, surnamed Choi, 34, and the mother, surnamed Han, 34, allegedly beat their son for about two hours prior to his death in November, 2012, and then dismembered him. / Yonhap
A couple, detained by police on suspicion of killing their seven-year-old son before dismembering and abandoning the severed body parts, have participated in a reenactment of the alleged offenses.
Officers at the Wonmi Police Station in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday took the father, surnamed Choi, 34, and the mother, surnamed Han, 34, to four places where the murder and mutilation of the corpse allegedly took place ― a public restroom at a community center located in Bucheon, their former and current residences in Bucheon and Incheon, respectively, and the home of Choi’s friend in Incheon.
Handcuffed and wearing masks and baseball caps, Choi and Han did not make any comments to reporters. According to officers they did not show agitation or remorse while taking part in the crime reenactment.
Also according to police, the boy’s remains were found in a bag in the home of a friend of Choi last Friday. The couple initially said that their son was injured after falling in the bathroom while resisting being washed in October 2012. They said they did not take the boy to a hospital and he died about a month later. They also said they mutilated the body and kept the remains in the refrigerator of their home even after they moved to Incheon, and had recently put them in the bag and asked the friend to look after it. But they deny killing the boy.
However, according to police, they told a different story on Wednesday. Choi, who frequently inflicted violence on his son, beat him for about two hours on the night of Nov. 7, 2012, allegedly while under the influence of alcohol.
The next day, Han went to work and Choi realized in the afternoon that the boy had died. [Korea Times]
On April 15, 2006 a group of USFK Soldiers Private First Class. Nicholas Acosta, Private Jesse D. Findley, Specialist Nick W. Davis and Specialist Shawn R. Kiely along with Davis’ wife and one of her friends went out to the A1 Club in the Dongducheon ville to celebrate a birthday. After spending some time at the club the group decided to leave which is when something happened that would have profound consequences for the Soldiers in the group:
Upon leaving, a South Korean man downstairs gave Acosta, Findley and Kiely “a weird look” and began speaking in Korean to Kiely, Acosta said.
“I told Kiely, ‘Just go, go,’” Acosta said. “I tried to calm the Korean down, but there was a lack of communication. Then he came between me and the wall, and hit Kiely.”
The Korean man, 19-year-old Lee Yong-whan, told police the fight started when he and a soldier bumped shoulders. [Stars & Stripes]
So basically people who had been drinking and could not properly communicate bumped shoulders and the confrontation ultimately turned into a brawl. Some how during the fight the Korean group with Lee got access to a metal pipe to beat the Soldiers with.
This photo, provided by Pfc. Nicholas Acosta’s defense attorney, shows what Acosta claims are injuries from an April 15 incident in which he says he was hit with a metal pole outside a bar. The attorney and Acosta said the photo was taken shortly after the incident. (Stars & Stripes)
The group of Americans tried to get away from the group of Koreans by exiting the club and jumping into a taxi cab. Unfortunately the taxi cab’s window was down and SPC Kiely was still getting punched through the window. The Soldiers screamed at the taxi driver to start moving, but the Koreans demanded that the taxi driver get out. The driver exited the taxi and the attack on the Americans continued. This is when PFC Acosta decided to jump into the driver’s seat and steal the taxi:
“I didn’t want to steal the taxi,” Acosta said. “Davis was a mess and Kiely was still getting hit. The only thing we could do was take the vehicle and get out of it.”
Acosta drove for about a mile before being stopped by Korean National Police, he said. [Stars & Stripes]
Stealing the taxi worked to escape the brawl, but it ended up turning an already bad situation into an even worse one. The Korean police stopped the group by firing warning shots into the air telling them to exit the taxi. The Soldiers exited the taxis and took out their military ID cards, but the police according to the group began to beat them with batons. The police deny this accusation. Acosta and the other Soldiers decided not to file a complaint against the Dongducheon police because they did not want to complicate the legal process any more than they needed to.
The ROK Legal Process
Since Acosta stole the taxi he was charged with the most serious crimes of assault, illegal use of a vehicle, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license. Korean prosecutors were seeking an 18-month jail sentence for Acosta. The other Soldiers involved in the fight all received fines from the city of Uijeongbu. During the legal proceedings a common issue for Soldiers in ROK court surfaced again when PFC Acosta complained that he could not understand his court appointed translator:
Pfc. Nicholas Acosta enters the Uijeongbu District Court on Wednesday prior to his hearing on charges of assault, illegal use of a vehicle, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license in connection with a fight outside a bar in Dongducheon on April 15.
The soldiers repeatedly asked the translators to clarify questions, and defense attorney Jin Hyo-keun had to translate some of the proceedings for his clients. Also, Judge Jung Jin-ho ordered the junior of the two translators to take over the duties over the senior translator’s objections.
When the soldiers left the courtroom before noon, both complained to their attorney, saying they didn’t understand what was happening in court. (………)
During Wednesday’s testimony, a Stars and Stripes translator heard the judge ask both soldiers, separately, whether they “admitted” to various aspects of their cases. The court translators, however, asked the soldiers only whether they were “aware” of those aspects. The soldiers answered “yes” to nearly every question. [Stars & Stripes]
Acosta’s defense lawyer lodged a complaint which led the court to replace the translators for the sentencing hearing. He did not want to demand a re-trial because he felt that the $9,000 restitution Acosta agreed to pay to the Koreans that beat him would lead to a suspended sentence. Acosta’s defense lawyer would be proven correct when he received a suspended sentence from the Korean court:
Judge Jung Jin-ho sentenced the soldier, Pfc. Nicholas Acosta, to eight months in prison for assault, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license in connection with the incident. Jung suspended Acosta’s sentence for two years on the condition the soldier stays out of trouble in South Korea.
Acosta blew a sigh of relief and smiled at fellow soldiers as he left the courtroom, but he refused to comment. Prosecutors had sought an 18-month jail sentence. [Stars & Stripes]
Acosta followed good legal advice by apologizing to the court, paying restitution and keeping quiet during the ROK legal process. This is the best way to try and receive a suspended sentence. On the Korean side of this incident the only person to face punishment was the instigator of the fight, Lee Yong-whan who admitted to starting the fight and was fined $2,000 which was later dropped to $1,500:
Jung dismissed an appeal by 19-year-old Lee Yong-whan, the South Korean accused of starting the April 15 fight. Lee complained that his 2 million won (about $2,000) fine is excessive.
The judge said he understood that Lee faces financial difficulties and knocked off 500,000 won (about $500) for the one day that Lee spent in police confinement.
But Jung warned Lee that since he started the fight, the remaining fine was just.
Lee told Stars and Stripes that while he feels “partly responsible” for the fight, the fine isn’t fair.
Seeing Acosta in his dress uniform — Lee was in the courthouse audience as he waited for his separate appearance — was difficult, Lee added.
“Yes, when seeing the soldier, I feel furious,” he said. [Stars & Stripes]
I am not sure what Lee feels so furious about when Acosta is the one that was beaten down with a metal pipe and forced to pay $9,000 in restitution which is enough money for Lee to pay off his own fine.
Conclusion
The biggest lesson people should learn from this 2006 incident is that you do not necessarily have the right to self defense in Korea, especially as a foreigner. PFC Acosta was assaulted and beaten with a metal pipe and he was the one facing serious jail time and forced to pay $9,000 in restitution to the people that beat him. Getting into a physical altercation in Korea should be the absolute last resort and whatever you do never pull out a weapon because that just makes things worse. It is always better to just apologize and if that doesn’t work, run away from a possible altercation. Just make sure not to steal a taxi cab in the process of escaping.
Note:You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link:
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]
Over at the Korean Law Blog the actual ROK law is posted in regards to self defense. Of interest is that if you ever got in a struggle with someone trying to kill you that required you to defend yourself to kill them you most likely get prosecuted for it:
Regrettably to many, Korea interprets the preceding Article 21 of Korea’s Criminal Act very narrowly. There is, only, one reported cases in the past 25 plus years where someone accused of murder has prevailed in a claim of self-defense. The only case I can find is the notorious Kongneung-Dong Murder Case. The case involved a break-in to a home that lead to the death of the burglar. The burglar was armed and he killed one person in the apartment.
The accused claimed, inter alia, that his act of killing the burglar was performed to “prevent impending and unjust infringement” (more injuries) of his “legal interest”(his life). He claimed that his only means of protecting his life was his actions. Additionally, the act of the burglar was at night.
The following charges still lead to charges by the police. The prosecution decided not to indict. [Korean Law Blog]
You can read more at the link, but the moral of the story is that if you have to defend yourself in Korea use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you. A perfect example of the negative consequences that can happen is the 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident or the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl. In these cases the GIs were punished for defending themselves while the Koreans that started the fights got away with no legal consequences.
First of all why is a North Korean agent allowed in the US in the first place? Secondly this just shows how complicit the Chinese government is in allowing these front companies to exist that give the Kim regime the capability to smuggle in not only military equipment, but luxury goods as well:
A man from North Korea accused of trying to buy military grade night vision goggles from a Utah-based undercover agent and illegally export them to China has pleaded guilty to a federal charge in an agreement with prosecutors.
Kim Song-il was arrested in Hawaii after agreeing to pay $22,000 for the equipment and packing it into boxes that he claimed were filled with used toys and towels so he could ship them to his Chinese business, charges state.
Prosecutors say they believe the six pairs of goggles would have gotten to North Korea from there, though defense attorney Scott Williams disputes that allegation. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
When the Lee Jung-hee Scandal broke I thought it seemed strange and sure enough it was all as expected a hoax. This just shows how these campaigns passed around on social media I have little faith in because they are mostly not true and this scandal is just another example:
As we know now, this was all a hoax. The monstrous former husband, who was supposedly blocking the police investigation because he was so well-connected with powerful people, was no more than an old pizza delivery man living in a crappy studio apartment. Lee led to the journalists to a rural village, claiming that her perpetrators lived there–not just one or two of the perpetrators, but according to Lee, the whole village was a sex colony that raped her and her sons. (But why would these allegedly rich and powerful men who assaulted her and her sons live in a crappy rural village?) The police did investigate the former husband when Lee initially claimed sexual assault to the police. After four months of investigation, the police did not find any nefarious orgy picture or video, nor did they find any sign of drug use from the former husband.
The real story was simpler and made much more sense. Lee and the former husband were indeed married, and were in the process of divorce. The former husband did beat Lee and the children, which resulted in a favorable divorce for Lee. It was when the husband appealed the decision by the divorce court that Lee began claiming sexual assault. Her story fell apart as soon as the more serious Korean media began their investigation. Earlier this month, Lee was arrested on the charges of malicious litigation and child abuse; Lee’s children were separated from their mother and were placed in protective services. [Ask A Korean]
You can read more of Ask A Korean’s take on this issue at the link which I agree with.
