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The designated driver who accidentally stepped on the accelerator pedal of a Tesla vehicle, killing the owner in the passenger seat, had the original verdict upheld in the second trial.
On the 23rd, the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Ban Jeong-woo) dismissed both the prosecution's and the defendant's appeals in the appellate trial of designated driver Choi (65), who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents (causing death), thereby upholding the original sentence of one year in prison.
Imprisonment (금고) is a punishment that confines a convict to prison, but unlike penal servitude (징역), forced labor is not imposed.
The defendant argued that the sentence of the original judgment was too severe, and the prosecutor argued that it was too light, both filing appeals. However, the court explained the reason for dismissal by stating, "The sentencing of the first trial was made within a reasonable range."
The court determined that the accident occurred because the defendant stepped on the accelerator pedal, citing operational data showing that the accelerator pedal displacement (a record converted to a percentage (%) indicating the degree of acceleration) gradually increased from 29.6% to 100% at the time of the accident, and that there was no record of the brake pedal being applied.
Choi was indicted without detention on charges of causing the death of Mr. Yoon, a lawyer at a large law firm and the owner of the car who was in the passenger seat, after crashing a Tesla Model X Long Range into a parking lot wall in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, in December 2020.
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