1. Overview

After having a drink with co-workers, the client was leaving his car in a public parking lot for a while and tried to get home by taxi, but he turned the wrong way and drove in a direction far from the parking lot. Later, he was caught in a drunken crackdown. However, the client had a history of drunk driving in the past and was in danger of being fired from the company if he was severely punished this time, so he decided to seek legal assistance.

2. Applicable Law

Road Traffic Act

Article 44 (Prohibition on Driving While Intoxicated)

(1) While intoxicated, no one shall drive any motor vehicle, etc. (including construction machinery, other than construction machinery provided for in the proviso to Article 26 (1) of the Construction Machinery Management Act; hereafter in this Article, and Articles 45, 47, 93 (1) 1 through 4, and 148-2, the same shall apply) or tram, or ride a bicycle.

3. Assistance of the Counsel

After consulting with the client, the Law-Win lawyers in Busan office have devised a strategy to conduct an active defense so that good results can be obtained not only in the investigation stage but also in the final trial stage for a successful resolution of this case.

In particular, because the client was caught driving under the influence three times, it was a case that could lead to a sentence of imprisonment rather than a suspended sentence, and the client was hoping to receive a lower level of punishment, so lawyers paid more attention to the pleadings.

4. Outcome

The court accepted the arguments of Law-Win lawyers and sentenced the client to a “fine”.

5. Significance of the Outcome

Since the enforcement of the Yoon Chang-ho Act in 2019, the punishment for drunk driving has been greatly strengthened, and that principle is still maintained. In particular, in the case of drunk driving, since the offense is repeated over and over several times, the court tends to avoid lenient punishment in these cases as much as possible. In the case of the client, from the beginning of the case, he worked with the lawyers to actively prepare the materials and concentrate on the pleadings, and in the end, he was able to achieve the desired result.

Attorney Bae, Kyongmin, Park, Su-jin and Woo, Ji-won