Chapter 58
『 Translator – Divinity 』
“Let’s first examine the culpability of Kim Gab-dong.”
Back in the renovated mock courtroom, I, standing at the prosecution’s table, looked around.
“I mentioned earlier that Kim Gab-dong is the principal offender of the murder. To be more precise… his crime is murder by ‘omission’.”
“Huh? Omission?”
The question came not from Gu Min-hwan, but from the female senior squeezed next to his large frame.
Was her name Lee Yoon-ah?
“There are broadly two types of acts that constitute crimes.”
One, ‘crimes of commission’. Simply put, this is doing something that shouldn’t be done.
Stabbing someone to death with a knife, or breaking into someone’s house and stealing their belongings.
In any case, it’s the type of crime where you actively do something bad and harm someone.
Two, ‘crimes of omission’. This is the opposite. In short, it’s ‘not doing something that should be done’.
Let’s say a police officer finds a drunk person shivering and sleeping on the street on a cold winter night.
This police officer has a professional duty to rescue and ensure the safety of citizens.
Therefore, the right thing for him to do is to wake the drunk person up and take them into custody or send them home safely.
But what if that drunk person was a bully who used to torment the police officer in school?
And so, thinking it’s none of his business whether the drunk person lives or dies, the police officer leaves him, and the drunk person freezes to death?
The police officer, by ‘not doing what he should have done’, drove the drunk person, who could have lived, to death.
Considering this no different from directly killing someone is the concept of crime of omission.
Someone with a special duty must bear a heavy responsibility for the consequences of neglecting that duty.
“Of course, Kim Gab-dong didn’t directly commit the act of murder.”
I nodded.
“He simply requested the doctors at Hospital C to discontinue A’s treatment. At first glance, this is easily seen as aiding and abetting or instigating murder.”
However,
“Isn’t Kim Gab-dong A’s son?”
I looked around and said with a sigh,
“Of course, they weren’t a loving father and son. If you ask if A was a respectable father in his later years, it’s difficult to answer yes.”
But still, a father is a father, and a son is a son.
“…A wasn’t always such a broken person.”
I pulled out Kim Gab-dong’s recollection of A from the list of testimonies.
—My father, when I was young, was like a towering mountain.
A was gruff, but he was a father who lived only for his family.
He worked himself to death to buy a good house in Seoul and supported Kim Gab-dong so he could study as much as he wanted.
Sometimes, on weekends when he was off, he would play with his young son, playing soccer or baseball.
As a result, Kim Gab-dong grew up without any problems, went to a good university, and even got a job at a leading company, becoming a responsible adult.
The problem started from there.
A, who had reached old age, lost his job and couldn’t accept the fact that he was no longer needed by society, becoming twisted.
“A fulfilled his duties as a father throughout his life. He worked hard every day to support his family and provided both material and emotional support for his son to grow up well. It was a noble sacrifice.”
Then, I continued,
“Even if the father developed some mental illness in his later years, that doesn’t justify abandoning him. Kim Gab-dong, as his son, had a rightful ‘duty’ to sincerely support and care for A and even tend to his emotional wounds.”
A solemn atmosphere briefly settled. The sacrifice of a parent was always a keyword that warmed hearts.
Of course, I wasn’t relying solely on emotional appeals.
I did passionately talk about the father’s sad life to emphasize the sense of duty.
But the duty to support one’s family wasn’t limited to moral or ethical obligations.
Rather, it was a legal duty clearly recognized by law and precedents.
Ethics were just spices that made legal arguments more persuasive.
“Therefore, Kim Gab-dong’s actions should be evaluated as ‘neglecting’ his natural duty as a son to support his father, A, and protect his life.”
I paused for a beat.
“In other words… murder by omission of the duty to support.”
I exhaled as if releasing a held breath.
If Kim Gab-dong were unrelated to A, simply having the doctors stop treatment wouldn’t constitute murder.
In that case, it would be appropriate to punish him for instigating or aiding and abetting murder.
But Kim Gab-dong was A’s family, his own son, whom A raised and poured money and time into until he became an adult.
The son who should have been caring for his father instead caused his death.
It wasn’t logical to consider such an act of filial impiety as aiding and abetting and punish it more lightly than actual murder.
After finishing my statement, I stood there and waited, and Jang Yong-hwan asked,
“That’s an interesting perspective.”
The implication of the word ‘perspective’ was clear. It meant that what I had presented so far was just an argument, so I needed to provide grounds.
“Do you have any basis for that?”
As expected, Jang Yong-hwan said those words.
“Of course we do.”
I replied as if I had been waiting for it and nudged Han Seol under the table. Precedents were always her domain.
“Seoul High Court 98no1310.”
Han Seol read the precedent from the prepared brief.
“Even though the defendant 1, as the victim’s wife, had a duty to protect the victim’s life through continuous treatment, if she discharged the victim and caused the discontinuation of treatment… it is reasonable to consider the defendant 1’s act as one of omission.”
This was the precedent from the Boramae Hospital case, one of the two models for this problem.
Although the issue at that time was the duty of support between spouses, not between parent and child, the principle of considering it a crime of omission due to neglect of duty was the same.
“Ah, I see…”
“It was an answer that couldn’t be found if you only focused on the outward appearance of the act of ‘requesting’ discontinuation of treatment.”
This time, the exclamation of admiration came from the seniors sitting next to Gu Min-hwan.
It seemed like that guy hadn’t properly explained things to his team members.
“Now then,”
Of course, that wasn’t my concern.
I rubbed my hands together and continued,
“Now that Kim Gab-dong has been proven to be the principal offender of murder, let’s discuss Lee Eul-nam. Since there’s already a principal offender, there are only two possible forms of culpability for Lee Eul-nam.”
I counted with my fingers.
“One, being an accomplice who ‘aided and abetted’ the principal offender’s act of murder.”
And,
“Two, being a ‘joint principal offender’ who committed the crime together with Kim Gab-dong.”
“…Joint principal offender?”
Senior Lee Yoon-ah mumbled in a daze.
Since they didn’t learn Criminal Law in the first semester of their second year, it was natural for their memory to be a bit hazy.
Although I thought that reaction was a bit much for a senior…
Since Gu Min-hwan could and would handle everything on his own anyway, the quality of his teammates didn’t matter.
“There are also two types of cases where multiple people are involved in one crime,”
I kindly explained further.
For example, let’s say a bank robbery occurred.
Two guys stormed into the bank together, threatened people with guns, and stole money, while another guy kept watch outside for the police and then drove them away in a car.
And the last guy provided them with the guns for the robbery.
At first glance, the first three and the last one seem to have different levels of culpability.
The three directly participated in the robbery, dividing the roles, while the last one simply provided assistance.
Of course, all four were bad guys, but if we had to choose the worse ones, it would be the three who directly robbed the bank.
In this case, the three criminals who would be punished equally as principal offenders of robbery are called joint principal offenders.
The last one is simply an aider and abettor, that is, an accomplice.
“If the doctor, Lee Eul-nam, is judged to be a joint principal offender who committed the crime of murder together with Kim Gab-dong, he should also be punished with a sentence equivalent to murder. On the other hand, if he’s merely an accomplice, the sentence would be lighter.”
From the heart, I wanted to punish even Lee Eul-nam, who directly removed the medical equipment and ended A’s life, for murder.
If possible, that would be the way to get the highest score.
But it was impossible this time.
“I request to play audio file number 7.”
“Permission granted.”
The teaching assistant operated the computer, and the speaker started working with a static sound.
“Audio file number 7 is a recording of the medical consultation between the defendant, Lee Eul-nam, who was the doctor on duty at the time, and Kim Gab-dong.”
A fairly vivid voice emerged from the speaker.
—You’re asking to discharge the patient?
—Yes.
—That’s not possible. Currently, the patient cannot be guaranteed to survive without life support.
—’Cannot be guaranteed’…?
—Yes. That is…
—Then you can’t guarantee that he’ll die either, can you?
—…Excuse me? No, that’s absurd.
—Please discharge him. I’ll take full responsibility for anything that happens afterward, and I won’t hold the hospital liable in any way.
The argument continued.
Lee Eul-nam tried to persuade Kim Gab-dong, and his main argument was that they couldn’t predict what would happen to A’s life.
Of course, saying they couldn’t predict it was putting it in the most positive light; in reality, the probability of death was much higher.
But Kim Gab-dong had already made up his mind to let A die. It was natural that it wouldn’t work.
In the end, Lee Eul-nam, with both hands tied, offered a compromise.
—Please sign this waiver. From this moment on, our hospital will not be held responsible for your father’s life or death.
—Ah, of course. Give it here.
—I clearly told you that we don’t know what will happen, right? I won’t be responsible anymore. If you change your mind, please readmit him or transfer him to another hospital as soon as possible.
—I understand, I said. Geez.
—…You heartless person.
The audio ended.
“Needless to say, this ‘waiver’ they wrote has no effect under criminal law.”
A waiver, at best, only meant an agreement not to file a civil lawsuit.
There was no room for it to be applied in the state-led criminal procedure of punishing criminals.
“Then is Lee Eul-nam a joint principal offender? Should he be seen as actively committing murder together with Kim Gab-dong?”
“I don’t think so.” I shook my head.
“The defendant, Lee Eul-nam, wasn’t sure of the consequences of discharging A. That’s why he even warned Kim Gab-dong, who had the duty to support A, that he couldn’t be sure what would happen, and that even if he discharged A, it would be better to readmit him or transfer him to another hospital.”
Legally, allowing discharge in this situation is considered merely entrusting the patient’s life to the family members who have the duty to support them.
It’s not seen as directly participating in the act of murder.
“However… allowing the discharge while knowing Kim Gab-dong’s intentions can be seen as at least ‘aiding’ Kim Gab-dong’s murder by omission.”
Aiding. In other words, being an accomplice.
Returning to the bank robbery example, it’s similar to the role of providing the firearms used in the crime, even if it’s not as serious as directly shooting, keeping watch, or helping them escape.
Even if he couldn’t be considered a principal offender, there was enough room to punish him as an accomplice who aided and abetted the crime.
“That concludes my argument.”
Finishing my argument, I faced Gu Min-hwan across from me.
I had said everything I could.
Kim Gab-dong was the principal offender of murder, and Lee Eul-nam was an accomplice who aided him. That was the only conclusion from the beginning.
Now, it was a matter of what this man would bring up.
‘…Indeed.’
During the break earlier, after meticulously reviewing the brief I had written, I finally came up with an idea.
If this was what Gu Min-hwan was aiming for, it was truly an ingenious idea.
But since I had read it first, it was a move I could prepare for. Perhaps even more easily than any other issue.
The question was whether what I came up with matched Gu Min-hwan’s intentions.
‘Was I right?’
Perhaps Gu Min-hwan would bring up something I hadn’t grasped after all.
If that happened, I would have to drag it into a muddy battle of improvisation.
A messy struggle where I couldn’t predict even a step ahead.
I glared at Gu Min-hwan, waiting for him to open his mouth.
How much time had passed?
“…Impressive.”
Finally, the moment Gu Min-hwan stood up,
“But there’s one thing wrong with the prosecution’s argument.”
I was certain.
“That is…”
This guy.
‘You’ve fallen for it!’