Acquaintance of Lee Eun Hye, accused of aiding and abetting the ”Korea Valley Murder,” sentenced to 10 years in prison on appeal

Defendant A, a man in his 30s who was on trial for aiding Lee Eun Hye (33) and Cho Hyun Soo (32) in the "Korea Valley Murder Case" by accompanying them to the crime scene, was found guilty in the appeal hearing.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to the Korean legal community on the 1st, the Seoul High Court cited the prosecutor's appeal for an unfair sentence and overturned the first trial that sentenced Defendant A (32), an acquaintance of Lee Eun Hye, to five years in prison.
The court overturned the verdict and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The court said, "Defendants Lee and Cho knew about the plan to kill the victim in order to get the insurance money, but they participated in the crime. The defendants are accomplices, but they are not murderers.
"It is difficult to consider the extent to which he contributed to the crime to be low, and severe punishment is inevitable," he said. In addition to the charges of aiding and abetting murder, defendant A was also charged with setting up a ghost corporation and setting up a bank account (in the name of another person) in the same trial.
In relation to this, the court found that it was difficult to believe that Defendant A participated in the crime in order to gain economic benefits.
Defendant A is accused of having sex with defendant Lee and defendant Cho at around 8:24 p.m. on June 30, 2019, in Yeongseo Valley, Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, where they had sex with Yoon, who could not swim.
They were indicted on charges of aiding and abetting the death of Lee (Lee's former husband, 39 years old at the time of death) by forcing him to dive.
The high court upheld the sentences of life imprisonment and 30 years imprisonment, respectively. In general, accomplices receive lighter sentences than principal offenders. Under the Criminal Code, accomplices may receive up to half the sentence of the principal offender.
In January of this year, the first trial sentenced Defendant A to five years in prison, stating, "Despite the fact that the victim died as a result of the crime he participated in, the defendant continued to make unconvincing arguments in court," and "he sought compensation for the damage."
"The fact that there was no effort to prevent the crime and that the victim's family is pleading for severe punishment was taken into consideration," he explained the reason for the sentence. After that, both the defendant and the prosecution filed an appeal against the first-instance ruling.