By I wouldn’t be surprised if his sentence was reduced a few more years after his appeal is heard and public attention dies down:
The Uijeongbu District Court on Tuesday sentenced a 21-year-old U.S. Army private of the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division to 10 years in prison. The soldier, who was not named, was convicted of breaking into a dormitory-style rented room in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province and raping a teenage girl.
The court also ordered the U.S. serviceman to undergo 80 hours of mandatory therapy for sex offenders and his personal information to be publicly available on a Korean government website for 10 years.
“The victim was trembling with fear and felt humiliated while he committed sadistic and perverted acts to satisfy his sexual desire for three hours,” the court said. “The severity of the sentence is inevitable since he showed no remorse.” [Chosun Ilbo]
All in all this dirtbag should consider himself lucky that he was convicted for this crime in Korea and will do time in a Korean prison instead of going through the US military legal system where he would have done much more time and served his sentence in harsher conditions.
So once again the SOFA has work as intended with this guy being handed over to Korean authorities when requested, tried & convicted in a Korean court, and will serve his time in a Korean prison.
She hasn’t seen...
10:25 am on November 2nd, 2011 1
This guy is a human typhoon. First, he creates an international incident that’s been reported ALL AROUND THE WORLD. Second, he almost single-handedly brought back the curfew for U.S. military stationed in S. Korea! Third, he’s ruined a great portion of his life and an innocent teenager’s life!
Just think; A few months ago he was probably causing havoc in his hometown and after a brief/disastrous stint in the Army he’s now going to rot for years in a bleak, Korean prison. He’s the International Man of Havoc/Destruction – truly a Human Typhoon!!
11:04 am on November 2nd, 2011 2
So what your saying is once again the SOFA has work as intended with this guy being handed over to Korean authorities when requested, tried & convicted in a Korean court, and will serve his time in a Korean prison.
4:20 pm on November 2nd, 2011 3
“All in all this dirtbag should consider himself lucky that he was convicted for this crime in Korea and will do time in a Korean prison instead of going through the US military legal system where he would have done much more time and served his sentence in harsher conditions.”
I’m sure he is, but aren’t sentences harsh in the US in order to maintain the prison-industrial complex?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_incarceration_timeline-clean.svg
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/world-prison-pop-seventh.pdf
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025261/Mark-Ciavarella-sentencing-Judge-jailed-getting-1m-kickbacks-private-prisons.html
5:42 pm on November 2nd, 2011 4
I read a couple comments from people who knew him in the past and it sounds like this incident just came out of nowhere..which scares me more then if he had a history of causing problems. He is some kind of time bomb and I don’t think the alcohol alone is what set him off. I think he already has had a 15 year sentence reduced to 10 years and will likely have another reduction which just makes me cringe about a remark like “The severity of the sentence is inevitable since he showed no remorse.” After he does his time in Korea he should be back in the U.S. Army legal system. Is that how this works?
8:37 pm on November 2nd, 2011 5
Chris,
I don’t think it came from exactly nowhere.
A quick automated profile indicates he came from a troubled background… likely didn’t live with his parents for some time… probably living with an older female relative… maybe a restrictive churcher…
He was likely somewhat of a loner, had some minor experience with drugs, and didn’t do well with the ladies… with girls that he knew only wanting to be “just friends” much to his deep frustration.
He possibly showed no overt signs that he was interested in rape and torture… or maybe nobody looked that deeply.
More people are interested in creepy shyt than polite society would have us believe… and pr0n viewing statistics back that up.
Anyway, these speculations are all based on computer-generated predictions and analysis.
In the hopes of fine-tuning the algorythms for the future power of good, I’d be curious if any of this could be confirmed or commented on by someone who knows him.
9:08 pm on November 2nd, 2011 6
Yep, the SOFA worked exactly as both governments wished and exactly NOT the way the protesters lie about the treaty.
There’s another positive thing about this case’s resolution: the judge responded to the accused’s comment about being drunk and therefore not realizing what he was doing with, “That is not accepted.” In other words, there is now judicial precedence in South Korea to refuse that favorite defense of being drunk.
11:28 pm on November 2nd, 2011 7
He ruined that poor girl’s life. I couldn’t care less about the cerfew or creating an international incident. Hopefully, he himself will experience rape in prison.
1:03 am on November 3rd, 2011 8
1. Cheonan is far from “bleak”.
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2010/02/24/RTV483110/
2. SOFA worked exactly as intended and he was sentenced “severly” compared to Korean judicial norms.
5. “That is not an acceptable excuse for foreigners by THIS particular judge during an election cycle.” Would be more accurate.
6. Not going to happen. He’s safe as houses where he’s at (see #1)
1:14 am on November 3rd, 2011 9
@5,
But only if other judge’s follow suite in Korean on Korean trials. Need we mention the Korean man who got 12 yrs for raping a 9yo girl, destroying her lower intestine and leaving her to die in her own blood? Or the Korean man who got acquitted because the American girl wasn’t resisting hard enough?
This case smells too much like hyper nationalist political pandering. We’ll see what it gets reduced to on appeal.
5:02 am on November 3rd, 2011 10
@3 – Leavenworth is a military prison and not part of the prison industrial complex.
5:10 am on November 3rd, 2011 11
10. From my understanding, if military inmates become a big problem and do not behave, they can be sent to the Leavenworth Federal Pen (civilian side) and put in with the general population.
/according to a former military prison guard.
5:12 am on November 3rd, 2011 12
#5: These speculations are all based on computer-generated predictions and analysis. SHOW ME THE FUNCTION OF X! And errr… sample size… and a link…
5:50 am on November 3rd, 2011 13
A friend of mine asked and I didn’t know the answer. I hadn’t even considered it.
In a case like this was this guy required to wear his uniform or was it his option?
Follow up: If he was required to wear the uniform, would he have ensured it was properly set up (awards and such) in accordance with regs or would someone been assigned to do it? Considering the possibility that he’s screwed and doesn’t care but the army still wants the uniform to be in accordance with AR 670-1.
/never had to deal with that type of issue while I was in.
6:15 am on November 3rd, 2011 14
He’s already not IAW AR 670-1 because of his hair.
6:33 am on November 3rd, 2011 15
14. & the mask, I presume. I’m strictly wondering about the uniform itself. Really, my question has little to do with him.
7:34 am on November 3rd, 2011 16
“1. Cheonan is far from “bleak”.
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2010/02/24/RTV483110/
2. SOFA worked exactly as intended and he was sentenced “severly” compared to Korean judicial norms.” – Leon Laport
How is it that SOFA worked this time, when SOFA is the cause of #1? On top of all those perks, the US military prisoners under SOFA regulations, get more perks like meals on wheels ala USFK.
“But only if other judge’s follow suite in Korean on Korean trials. Need we mention the Korean man who got 12 yrs for raping a 9yo girl, destroying her lower intestine and leaving her to die in her own blood? ” – SomeOtherGuy
Yeah, but that Korean is getting punished for real for 12 years, not treated to a “safehouse”, as Laport alluded to. Anyway, the GI’s ten years will be reduced soon anyway. Hardly any punishment if you really think about it.
7:48 am on November 3rd, 2011 17
You are sentenced to ten years of living in Arirang TV fantasy Prison!
9:11 am on November 3rd, 2011 18
Tom wrote:
Korea chops years off of sentences and grants early releases to thousands of prisoner every Chusok and Sul Nal. What makes you think this guy won’t released early?
9:57 am on November 3rd, 2011 19
#13 I think this poor kid coudln’t afford suit that’s why he’s wearing that army uniform.
10:18 am on November 3rd, 2011 20
“Korea chops years off of sentences and grants early releases to thousands of prisoner every Chusok and Sul Nal. What makes you think this guy won’t released early?”
You know little of presidential decreed pardons. They don’t let out murderers and rapists. That law is only for white collar workers and traffic offenders – people who are not danger to public. Murderers and rapists spend their time in Korean prisons with two inmates to a cell in a 4′ by 7′ cell room.
Western and foreign criminals receive far better treatment than Korean criminals. YOU CANNOT DENY THIS FACT. So please. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
10:19 am on November 3rd, 2011 21
Tom
10:18 am on November 3rd, 2011 20
“Korea chops years off of sentences and grants early releases to thousands of prisoner every Chusok and Sul Nal. What makes you think this guy won’t released early?”
You know little of presidential decreed pardons. They don’t let out murderers and rapists. That law is only for white collar workers and traffic offenders – people who are not danger to public. Murderers and rapists spend their time in Korean prisons with two inmates to a cell in a 4′ by 7′ cell room.
Western and foreign criminals receive far better treatment than Korean criminals. YOU CANNOT DENY THIS FACT. So please. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
3:28 pm on November 3rd, 2011 22
And Tom – in spite of living in an English speaking country – you know little about the English language.
I never said the holiday presidential pardons include rapists – I only said that thousands get released early on those days. Hence – Korea has an established pattern of releasing prisoners early. And even rapists and murderers get early releases.
4:45 pm on November 28th, 2011 23
“They don’t let out murderers and rapists.”
Yes, they have.
“far better treatment than Korean criminals”
Define “far better”.