Haenam: A 47-year-old woman serving a life sentence for patricide 25 years ago was found not guilty in a retrial Monday. The Haenam branch of the Gwangju District Court, located 330 kilometers south of Seoul, overturned Kim Shin-hye's conviction in her retrial and declared her not guilty.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim was previously sentenced to life in prison by the same court after being convicted of killing her father, who was 52 years old at the time, by giving him alcohol laced with sleeping pills on March 7, 2000. The Supreme Court confirmed her sentence the following year, although she denied the murder charges during the trials.
As allegations of irregularities by police investigators surfaced later, Kim applied for a retrial, and the court accepted her request in 2015. There were disputes over the motive for the crime, circumstances surrounding her surrender, evidence such as sleeping pills, alibi, and illegal investigation methods during the retrial, but the court ruled in her favor.
Kim, who did not appear at her sentencing hearing, is expected to be released soon following the not guilty verdict in the retrial.