Law Firm Cheongchul (Attorney in charge: Bae Gi-hyung, Lee Young-kyung) was indicted on charges of violating the Stalking Punishment Act and trespassing for sending text messages to an ex-lover and visiting their home, and was convicted in the first trial. The firm focused on arguing that there was no intent to trespass and that the conditions of ‘anxiety or fear’ and ‘continuity or repetition’ for stalking crimes could not be met, leading to a final acquittal by the Supreme Court.

The client met the complainant in an anonymous chat room and established a romantic relationship, after which the complainant unilaterally notified the client of the breakup. Consequently, the client attempted to visit the complainant's house to have a conversation, but the complainant placed a safety lock on the front door and had a brief conversation through the gap while trying to close the door. During this process, the complainant inserted the handle of an umbrella into the door to prevent it from closing. After this incident, a situation arose where the complainant and the client chatted again in the anonymous chat room, and when the complainant unilaterally ended the chat, the client sent text messages to the complainant for various explanations.

In response, the complainant accused the client, stating that the act of visiting the home and inserting the umbrella handle into the door constituted trespassing, and that sending text messages fell under the crime of violating the Stalking Punishment Act.

• Regarding trespassing, Law Firm Cheongchul pointed out that when the client visited the complainant's house, the complainant had the safety lock on the front door, and emphasized that objectively, the client could not enter the complainant's home, and that inserting the umbrella handle was intended to prevent the door from closing, with no intention of physically entering. The first trial court accepted these points and ruled the trespassing charge as not guilty.

• In the second trial, the prosecutor claimed that the facts of the trespassing constituted ‘coercion’ due to the forced attempt to converse and requested a change of the indictment. However, Law Firm Cheongchul submitted the opinion that the crimes of trespassing and coercion entail different substantive facts, and the second trial court accepted this, denying the request for a change of the indictment and maintaining the judgment that the trespassing charge was not guilty.

• Regarding violation of the Stalking Punishment Act, Law Firm Cheongchul focused on arguing that 14 out of the 16 text messages sent by the prosecutor were sent all at once immediately after the complainant unilaterally ended the chat, which does not satisfy the requirement of ‘continuity or repetition’. In particular, the specific content of these text messages was related to clarifying the complainant's misunderstandings and wishing for their well-being, which highlighted that such content would not reasonably induce ‘fear or anxiety’.

Both the second trial court and the Supreme Court accepted all the arguments from Law Firm Cheongchul and determined that the text messages sent by the client did not meet the requirements for stalking crimes as they were sent on a series of occasions, thus the client's charges were completely acquitted.

This case is an important example that shows how crucial it is to detail the elements of a crime in a criminal case.

Law Firm Cheongchul meticulously identified the weakest links in the elements of the crime from the investigation stage, emphasizing the facts of that aspect, and during the second trial stage, focused their arguments particularly on the most ambiguous evidence of the crime, resulting in a complete acquittal.

Law Firm Cheongchul is concentrating on deriving the most favorable conclusions for clients based on thorough case analysis and faithful legal arguments. Should you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Law Firm Cheongchul.