I Became a Law School Genius – 58



I Became a Genius Law School Student Episode 58

“First let’s look at Kim Gap-dong’s guilt.”

Moot court revised again. As I stood at the prosecutor’s table I looked around the audience.

“I told you earlier that Kim Gap-dong is the principal criminal of murder. To be more precise… his guilt is murder by ‘omission.’”

“uh? Omission?”

The question came not from Gu Minhwan but from a female senior who was sitting next to his huge body.

Did you say her name was Lee Yuna?

“There are two main types of acts that constitute crimes.”

one. ‘A criminal of commission.’ Simply put this means doing something you shouldn’t do.

Like stabbing someone to death or breaking into someone else’s house and stealing things.

In any case it is the type of person who actively commits something bad and causes harm to someone.

two. ‘Crime of omission’. You can think of this in reverse. In short it is ‘not doing what needs to be done.’

Let’s say that on a cold winter night a police officer found a drunk man shivering and sleeping on the street.

This police officer has a professional duty to save the lives of citizens and ensure their safety.

Therefore the right thing for him to do is to wake up the drunk and secure him or send him home safely.

But what if it turns out that the drunk was a member of the group who harassed the police officer during his school days?

So what if the police officer who thought it was none of his business whether he died or not left him alone and ended up freezing to death?

By ‘not doing what he should have done’ the police officer caused the death of a drunk man who could have lived.

The concept of a crime of omission is to evaluate this as no different from directly killing a person.

A person who has a special obligation must bear heavy responsibility for the consequences of neglecting that obligation.

“Of course Kim Gap-dong did not commit the murder directly.”

I nodded.

“He just asked the doctors at Hospital C to stop treating A. At first glance this could easily be thought of as inciting or aiding murder.”

but.

“Isn’t Kim Gap-dong the son of A?”

I looked around the crowd and sighed.

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“Of course these were not wealthy people who got along well. “If you ask whether A was a respectable father in his later years of course it is difficult to answer yes.”

But still a father is a father and a son is a son.

“…A wasn’t such a broken person from the beginning.”

I pulled out Kim Gap-dong’s own recollections of A from the list of testimonies.

– When I was young my father was like Taesan.

Although A was blunt he was the head of a family who only cared about his family.

I worked hard to find a good house in Seoul and Kim Gap-dong provided support so that I could study as much as I wanted.

Sometimes when I had a break on the weekend I would play soccer or baseball with my young son.

As a result Kim Gap-dong grew up well graduated from a good university joined a leading conglomerate and grew into an adult who can easily carry out his duties.

The problem started from there.

A who had entered old age began to distort as he could not accept the fact that he had lost his job and was no longer the person the world needed.

“A has fulfilled his duty as a father throughout his life. I worked hard every day to take care of my family’s livelihood and supported my son both financially and spiritually so that he could grow up well. “It is a noble sacrifice.”

If so I tried my luck.

“Even if my father suffered from some mental illness in his later years that alone would not justify his abandonment. As a son Kim Gap-dong has a rightful ‘duty’ to sincerely help and support A and even take care of his hurt feelings.”

A solemn atmosphere flows for a moment. A parent’s sacrifice has always been a keyword that warms the heart.

Of course I did not intend to rely solely on emotional appeal.

In order to emphasize the legitimacy he made fun of his father’s sad life.

However the obligation to support one’s family is not limited to simply moral or ethical obligations.

Rather it was a legal obligation clearly recognized by law and precedent.

Ethics is just a spice that makes the legal principles more persuasive.

“Therefore Kim Gap-dong’s actions should be evaluated as an act of ‘abandoning’ the natural duty of a son to support his father A and protect his life.”

Rest for a beat.

“In other words… it is murder due to omission of the duty of support.”

Then exhale as if exhaling.

If Kim Gap-dong had had nothing to do with A he would not have been guilty of murder simply by forcing the doctors to stop treating him.

In that case it is right to be punished as an instigator of murder or an accessory to murder.

However Kim Gap-dong was the biological son of A’s family born and raised by A and investing money and time in raising him until he became an adult.

The son who was supposed to take care of his father actually caused his death.

It makes no sense to view such immorality as an aiding and abetting crime and to punish it lightly compared to the actual crime of murder.

After finishing speaking I stood there for a while and waited for Jang Yong-hwan to ask.

“That’s an interesting perspective.”

The word ‘perspective’ implies one thing. What has been said so far is nothing more than an argument so please provide evidence.

“Is there any basis?”

Indeed Jang Yong-hwan said such a line.

“Of course there is.”

I responded as if I had been waiting and tapped Hanseol under the desk. The precedent is always hers.

“Seoul High Court 98no 1310.”

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I read the precedent in the written statement prepared.

“If Defendant 1 as the victim’s wife has an obligation to protect the victim’s life through continued treatment but discharges the victim and discontinues treatment… Defendant 1’s crime is determined to be due to omission. “It’s significant.”

This was none other than a precedent from the Boramae Hospital case one of the two models in this issue.

The issue at the time was the duty of support between spouses not the duty of support between children and parents but the principle of viewing it as a crime due to neglect of duty was the same.

“Ah I see….”

“It was an answer that could not be found if we only focused on the outward nature of the act of ‘requesting’ to stop treatment.”

The admiration this time came from the seniors sitting on either side of Minhwan Koo.

It seemed like that person didn’t even give a proper explanation to his teammates.

“Okay then.”

Of course that was none of my business.

I rubbed my hands and opened my mouth again.

“Now that the main culprit of the murder has been revealed to be Kim Gap-dong let’s discuss Lee Eul-nam. Since the main criminal already exists there are only two types of guilt possible for Lee Eul-nam.”

I folded my fingers one by one and counted them.

“one. “An accomplice who aided and abetted the murder of the principal offender.”

and.

“two. A ‘co-principal’ who committed the same crime as the main offender Kim Gap-dong.”

“…Co-principal?”

Senior Lee Yuna muttered absentmindedly.

Since I didn’t learn criminal law in the first semester of my second year my memory tended to become blurry.

Anyway I think that harsh reaction is a bit unreasonable for a senior.

Gu Min-hwan could and would solve everything on his own anyway so the quality of his team members probably didn’t matter.

“Even when multiple people are involved in one crime there are two types.”

I kindly elaborated.

For example let’s say there is a bank robbery.

The two men went into the bank side by side and robbed people by threatening people with guns while the other man watched outside to see if the police were coming while they were robbing the bank then put them in a car and fled.

And the last one provided the pistol so they could rob the bank.

Just looking at it the first three and the last one seem to be slightly different in nature.

The three men each took on different roles and participated in the robbery but the last one only provided assistance.

Of course all four are bad guys but if I had to pick a worse guy I would have to point out the three who directly robbed the bank.

At this time the three criminals who are equally punished as principals of robbery are called co-principals.

The last one is just an abettor that is an accomplice.

“If doctor Lee Eul-nam is evaluated as a co-conspirator of murder with Kim Gap-dong he should also be punished for murder. On the other hand if you are merely an accomplice the sentence will be slightly lighter.”

In my heart I also want to punish Lee Eul-nam who personally removed the medical equipment and ended A’s life for murder.

If possible that was also the way to get the highest score.

But this time it was too much.

“Request to play audio file number 7.”

“Allowed.”

As the teaching assistant operated the computer the speaker started to work.

“Voice file number 7 is a recording of the medical consultation between defendant Lee Eul-nam who was the doctor on duty at the time and Kim Gap-dong.”

A voice with quite vivid sound quality came out of the speaker.

– Do you want to discharge the patient?

– Yes.

– No. Currently the patient’s survival cannot be guaranteed without life-sustaining treatment equipment.

– ‘You can’t be sure?’

– yes. therefore.

– So you can’t guarantee that you will die?

– …yes? No that’s unreasonable.

– Please discharge me. I will take full responsibility for what happens afterward and will not hold the hospital responsible in any way.

Afterwards the argument continued and the fight continued.

Lee Eul-nam tried to persuade Kim Gap-dong somehow and the main argument was that it was impossible to predict what would happen to A’s life.

Of course the unpredictability was evaluated as positively as possible and in reality the probability of death was much higher.

However Kim Gap-dong has already decided to let A die. It was natural that the seeds wouldn’t work.

In the end Lee Eul-nam with both hands and feet presents a compromise.

– Write your memorandum here. From this moment on our hospital has no responsibility for your father’s life or death.

– Oh of course. Give it to me.

– Did I clearly tell you that I don’t know what will happen? I don’t know anymore. If you change your mind have the patient readmitted or transferred to another hospital as quickly as possible.

– I knew it. That’s right.

– …He’s like a human being without blood or tears.

The voice ended.

“It goes without saying but the ‘memorandum’ written by these people has absolutely no effect under criminal law.”

At most the memorandum only has the meaning of an agreement by the author not to file a civil lawsuit.

There is no room for application to criminal procedures in which the state steps in to judge criminals.

“Then is Lee Eul-nam a co-principal? Should we view him as actively committing murder together with Kim Gap-dong?”

I don’t think so. I shook my head.

“Defendant Lee Eul-nam was not sure of the outcome of discharging A. Therefore I even left a warning to Kim Gap-dong who is obligated to support me saying that I don’t know what will happen to him and that even if I were to discharge him it would be better to re-hospitalize him or send him to another hospital.”

Legally allowing discharge in this situation is assessed as nothing more than entrusting the victim’s life and death to the family members who are obligated to support the victim.

I do not believe that I am participating in the crime of murder.

“However… allowing Kim Gap-dong to leave the hospital despite knowing his intentions can at least be seen as ‘assisting’ Kim Gap-dong’s murder by omission.”

helped. In other words he is an accomplice.

Going back to the example of the bank robbery it is similar to providing the firearm to be used in the crime even if it is not to the extent of shooting together or allowing the person to escape while looking out.

Even if he could not be considered a principal offender there was ample room to punish him as an accomplice who aided and abetted the crime.

“That’s it.”

After finishing my argument I faced Gu Min-hwan across from me.

I have finished all the stories I could.

Kim Gap-dong is the principal criminal of murder and Lee Eul-nam is the accomplice who assisted him. There was only one conclusion from the beginning: this.

Now the key was what the man would bring out.

‘…indeed.’

During the break a little while ago I was able to come up with an idea after closely looking at the writing I had written.

If Koo Min-hwan had been aiming for this it would have been a truly amazing idea.

However it was also a number that could be prepared as long as you read it first. Perhaps even easier than all the other issues.

The question is whether what I came up with matches Minhwan Koo’s intentions.

‘Was I right?’

Maybe Koo Min-hwan will eventually bring out something that I couldn’t capture.

If that happens we will have to drag ourselves into a mud-like improvisational fight.

It is a ruthless struggle in which the future cannot be predicted even by an inch.

I glared at Gu Minhwan waiting for him to open his mouth.

How much time has passed?

“…That’s cool.”

Finally the moment when Gu Min-hwan stood up from his seat.

“But there is one flaw in the prosecutor’s argument.”

I was sure.

“That is…

This bastard.

‘You’re caught!’