For the first time in Korean history a jury sit in on a trial. The Daegu District Court heard a case on Tuesday(February 2) involving a man charged with robbery who requested a jury’s presence.

Under the Korean law, the jury serves in an advisory capacity, and their decision won’t be legally binding as the judge will make the final decision(That is different from the U.S. jury system where the juries deliver verdicts, while judges decide on sentences). Also the Jury trial is not applied to all criminal cases. Only some restricted cases such as murder and robbery can be proceeded under jury trial by the request of the accused.

In this case, with the recommendation of the jury, the court handed down two and a half years’ of imprisonment which is suspended for four years, plus 80 hours of community service to the accused.

Here is the related news article.

© 2008 Wonil Chung, a Korean Criminal Lawyer/Chung & Partners, a Korean Criminal Law Firm.  All rights reserved. Some copyrights, photos, icons, trademarks, trade dress, or other commercial symbols that appear on this post are the property of the respective owners.