The Taipei City District Court yesterday sentenced a man to seven years and two months imprisonment for killing a person while driving drunk, in the first trial by citizen judges conducted in the jurisdiction.
The verdict is subject to appeal.
Lee Chia-hsiu (李佳修), 23, was convicted of committing an offense against public safety that resulted in death, the court said, adding that the bench imposed a heavy sentence due to the defendant’s lack of remorse and other factors.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The accused had a blood alcohol level of nearly 1.1mg per liter and was driving double the speed limit when the incident happened, the court said, adding that he also tried to attack police officers and made untrue statements during the investigation to deflect blame.
Lee was arrested close to the scene of a deadly traffic collision in the Zhongxiao W Road tunnel in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) on the morning of Nov. 14 last year, it said.
Lee, who attempted to flee from the crash scene in a vehicle, resisted the arrest and was shot in the leg by a police officer before being detained, it said.
Investigators later concluded that Lee was racing an underage person surnamed Chiang (江) after a night of partying, the court said, adding that the two did not have a driving license.
Lee veered off course and crashed into the vehicle of a driver surnamed Wang (王), it said.
Lee admitted to the crime during the trial and said he regretted it in a plea for leniency, it said, adding that a written confession and 30 handwritten copies of the religious text Heart Sutra were submitted to the court.
The defense argued that Lee qualified for reduced sentencing as he had no prior record of driving under the influence and was willing to pay compensation to the victim’s family, the court said.
Taipei prosecutors argued that Lee’s confession omitted the most damning aspects of the crime, it said.
The prosecutors argued Lee’s show of remorse had no sincerity as the copied sutras contained six typographical errors, the court said.
The prosecution additionally stated that Lee would not have met the legal standard for leniency even if he had voluntarily surrendered to police, the court said.
A collegiate bench of citizen and professional judges agreed with the prosecution’s demands for a sentence between seven years and six months to nine years in prison, it said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS