[Defendant] Defendant 1 and 3 others
[Appellant] Defendants
[Defense Counsel] Attorney Kwon Doo-seop and 2 others of Law Firm Yeoneun
[Judgment Below] Daegu District Court Decision 2020No677 dated May 13, 2021
[Order]
The guilty portions of the judgment below concerning Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 are reversed, and this portion of the case is remanded to the Daegu District Court. The appeals by Defendant 1 and Defendant 4 are all dismissed.
[Reasoning] The grounds of appeal are examined.
1. The portion concerning the violation of the Act on the Punishment of Violences, etc. (공동주거침입, joint trespass on a dwelling) by Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 on October 30, 2018
A. The crime of trespass on a dwelling protects the actual peace of the dwelling as its legal interest. Since "intrusion," which constitutes the constituent element of the crime of trespass, must be interpreted in relation to the legal interest protected by the crime of trespass, intrusion means entering a dwelling in a manner that disturbs the actual state of peace of the dwelling, and whether an act constitutes intrusion should in principle be determined based on the objective and external appearance of the conduct at the time of entry. While entering a dwelling in a manner that disturbs the actual state of peace will generally be against the will of the occupant, the mere subjective circumstance that the act of entering the dwelling itself is against the occupant's will cannot by itself be considered intrusion (see Supreme Court en banc Decision 2020Do12630 delivered on September 9, 2021). Therefore, whether an act constitutes intrusion should be determined not by whether it is against the occupant's will, but by whether it is conduct that disturbs the actual state of peace.
Where an actor entered a dwelling with the occupant's consent, but the entry was for the purpose of committing a crime, etc., or where it is recognized that the occupant would not have consented to the entry had he or she known the actor's actual purpose of entry, in order for the actor's act of entry to constitute intrusion as defined in the crime of trespass, it must be evaluated, in light of the objective and external appearance of the conduct at the time of entry, that the actual state of peace of the dwelling was infringed, taking into comprehensive consideration the form, use and nature of the dwelling, etc. sought to be entered, the manner and state of control and management of entry by outsiders, and the circumstances and method of the actor's entry (see Supreme Court en banc Decision 2017Do18272 delivered on March 24, 2022).
B. The facts charged in this portion are that Defendant 2, Defendant 3, and co-defendant in the court below Hwang Mi-ran, acting jointly, arrived at the Gimcheon City Hall at around 15:30 on October 30, 2018, and, together with approximately 150 union members, entered the building, sat on the floor of the first-floor lobby shouting slogans and causing a disturbance, thereby trespassing on the building against the will of the manager of the Gimcheon City Hall building.
C. The court below maintained the first instance court's determination finding this portion of the facts charged guilty on the ground that the above defendants entered the Gimcheon City Hall against the will of the manager, thereby disturbing the actual peace of the building.
D. However, according to the reasoning of the judgment below and the record, the following facts are recognized.
1) The first-floor lobby of the Gimcheon City Hall, which Defendant 2, Defendant 3, and others entered, is a place generally open without restrictions on entry qualifications, etc. during business hours.
2) In front of the Gimcheon City Hall, union members of the labor union had been continuously holding assemblies and demonstrations since around August 2018, daily during the commuting hours of the Mayor of Gimcheon, and even before this portion of the facts charged occurred, some participants in the said assemblies and demonstrations had entered and exited the first-floor lobby of the Gimcheon City Hall without any restraint, and had even conducted one-person demonstrations in the first-floor lobby.
3) On September 12, 2018, prior to this portion of the facts charged, there was an instance where Gimcheon City officials blocked the entry of assembly and demonstration participants into the first-floor lobby of the Gimcheon City Hall; however, this appears to have been either to protect the Mayor in a situation where the participants were following the Mayor, who was commuting, into the city hall, or to have been done out of concern about entry into the Mayor's office on the second floor.
4) On the day of this portion of the facts charged, from around 14:00, an event titled "Departure Ceremony and Press Conference for the Walking Tour Struggle" hosted by the Gyeongbuk Regional Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions was held in front of the Gimcheon City Hall, and among the union members participating in the event, 5 people entered the Mayor's office on the second floor of the Gimcheon City Hall at around 15:10 requesting a meeting with the Mayor; upon hearing news of this and rumors that these people were being forcibly dragged out, the union members participating in the said event entered the Gimcheon City Hall together with Defendant 2, Defendant 3, and others.
5) At the time, union members including Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 entered the first-floor lobby through the main entrance on the first floor of the Gimcheon City Hall twice, at an interval of about 30 minutes, without receiving any restraint from Gimcheon City officials, etc. There is no evidence that the union members pushed their way through the entrance or otherwise entered by using the power or force of numbers.
6) At the time of the facts charged, since the 5 union members were already in the Mayor's office on the second floor as described above, a large number of Gimcheon City officials were already standing blocking only the staircase leading from the first-floor lobby to the Mayor's office on the second floor.
7) Even looking at the situation after entering the first-floor lobby, the CCTV footage does not show the union members shouting slogans or causing a disturbance, and only shows them clapping together approximately twice, right before dispersing.
8) Even after the union members gathered in the first-floor lobby dispersed and left the Gimcheon City Hall at around 19:00, the main entrance door on the first floor remained open for some time, and people continued to enter and exit. It was only from the day after the incident constituting this portion of the facts charged that Gimcheon City officials began locking the main entrance door of the Gimcheon City Hall and blocking union members from entering the first-floor lobby.
E. Examining the above factual relationship in light of the legal principles set forth above, insofar as the defendants entered the city hall lobby, which is generally open to entry, in an ordinary manner without any restriction on or obstruction of entry by the manager, it cannot be said that they entered the first-floor lobby of the Gimcheon City Hall in a manner that disturbed the actual state of peace, and therefore this does not constitute intrusion as defined in the crime of trespass on a building. No explicit intent of the manager of the Gimcheon City Hall to prohibit entry has been confirmed, and even if the act of Defendant 2, Defendant 3, and others entering the Gimcheon City Hall as described in this portion of the facts charged was contrary to the presumed intent of the manager of the Gimcheon City Hall, such circumstance alone cannot be evaluated as entering the city hall lobby in a manner that disturbs the actual state of peace. Therefore, the crime of trespass on a building is not established with respect to Defendant 2 and Defendant 3.
F. Nevertheless, the judgment below, which recognized the establishment of the crime of trespass on a building based mainly on the manager's intent, erred by misapprehending the legal principles concerning the establishment of this crime, thereby affecting the judgment. The argument in the grounds of appeal pointing this out is well-founded.
2. The portion concerning obstruction of performance of official duties by Defendant 4
The court below maintained the first instance judgment finding this portion of the facts charged guilty for the reasons stated therein. Examining the reasoning of the judgment below in light of the relevant legal principles and the evidence lawfully adopted, there is no error in the judgment below such as misapprehending the legal principles concerning the legality of the performance of official duties and assault in the crime of obstruction of performance of official duties, or violating the rules of logic and experience so as to exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence.
3. The portion concerning larceny by Defendant 1 and Defendant 3
The court below maintained the first instance judgment finding this portion of the facts charged guilty for the reasons stated therein. Examining the reasoning of the judgment below in light of the relevant legal principles and the evidence lawfully adopted, there is no error in the judgment below such as misapprehending the legal principles concerning the intent to steal, the specification of the amount of damage, and acts not contrary to social norms under Article 20 of the Criminal Code (형법) in the crime of larceny, or violating the rules of logic and experience so as to exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence.
4. Scope of reversal (Defendant 3)
The portion of the judgment below concerning the violation of the Act on the Punishment of Violences, etc. (joint trespass on a dwelling) committed by Defendant 3 on October 30, 2018 must be reversed for the reasons set forth above. Furthermore, the guilty portion (the larceny portion), which is in a concurrent crime relationship under the first sentence of Article 37 of the Criminal Code with the reversed portion and for which a single sentence was imposed, must also be reversed together. Ultimately, the entire guilty portion of the judgment below concerning Defendant 3 must be reversed.
5. Conclusion
The guilty portions of the judgment below concerning Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 are reversed, and this portion of the case is remanded to the court below for retrial and determination, and the appeals by Defendant 1 and Defendant 4 are all dismissed. It is so decided by the unanimous opinion of the Justices participating in the decision, as set forth in the Order.
Justice Cheon Dae-yeop (Presiding Justice), Cho Jae-yeon, Min Yu-sook (Justice in Charge), Lee Dong-won