It was reported on the 21st that Judge Ma Yong-joo (23rd Judicial Research and Training Institute) is in charge of the Supreme Court's appeal hearing regarding actor Yoo Ah-in (real name Eom Hong-sik) on charges of habitual drug use. Previously, Yoo was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial and was incarcerated, but was released in the second trial with a sentence of one year in prison and two years of probation. Judge Ma is the most recently appointed among the Supreme Court justices.
The Supreme Court assigned this case to the Supreme Court's 1st division, one of its small divisions, on the 17th. A small division is comprised of four Supreme Court justices. Currently, the 1st division is composed of Justices Noh Tae-ak, Seo Kyung-hwan, Shin Suk-hee, and Ma Yong-joo.
Judge Ma is the successor to Justice Kim Sang-hwan, who retired in December last year. Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae appointed him on Nov. 26, and the National Assembly passed the nomination agreement on Dec. 27 that same year. However, the appointment of Judge Ma Yong-joo was delayed as Acting President Han Duck-soo postponed the nomination of Constitutional Court Justice Ma Eun-hyeok. Ultimately, Judge Ma was inaugurated on the 9th.
Mr. Yoo was indicted for allegedly administering propofol 181 times from September 2020 to March 2022 and illegally obtaining sleeping pills under another person's name on 44 occasions from May 2021 to August 2022. He was also charged with smoking cannabis in the U.S. in January 2022 and teaching an acquaintance to smoke cannabis. Additionally, as he faced police investigation for drug use, he allegedly instructed others to destroy evidence and pressured a YouTuber who testified about his cannabis use to retract their statement.
The first trial sentenced Mr. Yoo to one year in prison and a fine of 2 million won, and he was incarcerated. The court recognized charges of cannabis smoking, habitual use of medical narcotics, and habitual purchasing under someone else's name as guilty. However, it ruled him not guilty of the charges of instructing an acquaintance to smoke cannabis and of instructing the destruction of evidence.
Both Yoo Ah-in and the prosecution appealed. The second trial maintained the same findings of guilt and innocence as the first. However, accepting the opinion from Mr. Yoo's side that "the sentence is too severe," it reduced the sentence to one year in prison with two years of probation and a fine of 2 million won. Consequently, Mr. Yoo was released after spending five months in the Seoul Detention Center. The prosecution subsequently appealed.
Previously, Judge Ma presided over the appeal case of Mr. A, a man in his 30s who attempted to smuggle 886 tablets of the psychoactive drug MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), worth 17.32 million won, hidden in a popcorn bag. He received the same sentence of four years in prison as in the first trial.
Judge Ma also presided over the appeal case of Jeon Woo-won, the grandson of former President Chun Doo-hwan, facing drug use charges, sentencing him to two years and six months in prison with four years of probation, the same as the first trial.
One legal professional noted, "In the Supreme Court small division, the presiding justice tends to make conclusions independently," adding, "Attention is focused on what position Judge Ma will take on drug offenders."