2022년 형사소송법 중요 판례 평석

Abstract

In 2022, there were numerous Supreme Court rulings in the field of criminal procedure law. Among them, eleven important judgments with substantial meanings related to criminal practice, theory, and guarantee of basic rights of the people were selected to introduce the issues and to give a brief review. The main judgments introduced in the paper include the following; ① the court-appointed absentee property manager is a legal representative with the right to file a complaint; ② the arrest of flagrant offender requirement for 'necessity of arrest' and its criteria; ③ even when the investigative agency does not notify foreigners of consular notification without delay to make the arrest and detention procedure illegal, the principle of exclusion of illegal evidence will not be applied as an exception; ④ the meaning of information storage media belonging to the suspect who is entitled to participate in the seizure and search procedure as much as those who submit the evidence voluntarily; ⑤ if electronic information stored in a remote server can be confiscated or not when the warrant states only ‘electronic information stored in information processing devices such as computers’; ⑥ judgment on the obligation to acknowledge reduced facts among the criminal facts charged; ⑦ judgment on whether the statements made by video recordings in violation of methods and procedures can be accepted in accordance with Article 312, Paragraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act; ⑧ judgment on unconstitutionality of the special clause on the admissibility of evidence concerning the testimony of sexual violence victims under 19 years old in the video; ⑨ if the defense counsel’s cross-examination and witness’ statements can be used as evidence when the witness (victim) does not appear after only half of the witness interrogation without notifying his or her whereabouts; ⑩ judgement on whether the direct appeal to supreme court by the accused (which is not recognized by the court according to Article 373 of the criminal procedure act) can be recognized as an appeal when the prosecutor appeals to higher court making the case concur; ⑪ if the district court sentences the defendant to more than 10 years in prison or imprisonment, whether the prosecutor can appeal on the grounds that the sentence is light.
 Through active criticism of the above rulings and discussions, many developments are expected in the field of criminal procedure law case and theory this year.