Law Firm Changchun defended a care worker and a nursing home operator who were indicted on the allegation that they had allowed a Parkinson's patient in her nineties to eat bread alone at the nursing home, causing her death by respiratory distress.
Law Firm Changchun felt genuine dismay that a care worker and a nursing home operator who had devoted years to serving the elderly now faced punishment because the prosecution had focused solely on the outcome that a patient had died. To prove that they had discharged their duty of care at the time of the incident, we applied for a jury trial — a procedure in which citizens serve as jurors and reach a verdict, which the court then takes into account in rendering judgment — rather than ordinary criminal proceedings.
Law Firm Changchun contested the case with the prosecution for more than seven hours at the jury trial, and in the end the defense team led by managing partner Geonho Park of Law Firm Changchun argued overwhelmingly, securing not-guilty verdicts from 6 and 4 of the 7 jurors respectively — a majority in each case — for the care worker and the nursing home operator. The court accordingly held that the evidence submitted by the prosecution could not establish that the nursing home operator owed any duty of care beyond complying with the statutory standards on the number of care workers and providing training on matters such as cutting food into small pieces, and that it was difficult to find that a care worker who was not the victim's designated carer owed an occupational duty of care to watch over her until she had finished her snack and be ready for any emergency. It acquitted both the nursing home operator and the care worker.
Unlike ordinary criminal proceedings, a jury trial requires a jury verdict and calls for argument in court over a longer period, so it demands extensive preparation. Law Firm Changchun prepared for the jury trial with thorough groundwork and airtight reasoning, and secured a complete acquittal for our clients.
The case was covered by more than ten media outlets, including Yonhap News, YTN and MBC News, and drew enough attention to appear on the front page of the DAUM portal.
Law Firm Changchun will repay our clients' trust with the best possible results.