Episode 16

“Incitement to perjury, robbery resulting in injury, and… attempted ‘nighttime residential intrusion larceny’.”

“Huh, what?!”

Yoo Tae-woon exclaimed in surprise, and Jang Yong-hwan’s eyes widened.

“Article 330 of the Criminal Act. Nighttime Residential Intrusion Larceny. A person who enters another person's residence, a building, a ship, an aircraft, or a room that they occupy at ‘night’ and steals another person’s property shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years.”

I continued, unfazed.

“While there is no explicit definition of ‘nighttime’ in the Criminal Act, the generally accepted theory is that it is from sunset to sunrise.”

“W, what are you even talking about right now?”

“This case.”

I cut off Yoo Tae-woon’s question.

“It didn’t happen at 2 PM, but at 2 AM. In other words… it was ‘nighttime’.”

That’s right.

This was the real trap that Jang Yong-hwan had hidden in this problem.

“I thought it was unnatural from the start.”

The sense of unease that had been nagging at me while reading the case records.

It was the fact that the ‘time of the crime’ was not recorded anywhere.

• On March 12, 2023, Kim Gap-dong went to the apartment where A lived…

The date itself was clearly written.

However, descriptions of the specific times of each crime were completely absent.

Information about the time was only indirectly present in the evidence.

The analog clock showing 2 o'clock in the hard-to-see black and white video, and the conversation time of around 1:30 PM in the KakaoTalk capture file.

It was strange.

I had no experience with court practice.

But from a common-sense perspective, it seemed unlikely that the exact time of an incident would be omitted from investigation and trial records.

Among the cases that turned into legal disputes, there were many where the outcome changed within a split second.

For example, where the order of document arrivals was decided by a hair's breadth, determining who had the right to claim what.

“Especially in criminal cases, the handling of the case can change completely depending on whether the time of the incident is during the day or at night.”

“For example?”

Jang Yong-hwan asked.

“Self-defense, for example.”

Self-defense requires proportionality as a condition.

That meant that you should only defend yourself to the extent that was appropriate to ward off the danger that you were facing at that moment.

If you went beyond that, it was usually not recognized as legitimate self-defense.

However, if that excessive defense was done at ‘night’ or in other unstable states, such as fear, shock, excitement, or panic, then you would not be punished.

Because it was an overly harsh requirement to expect someone to judge and act on the ‘just’ line in such situations.

“It is often said that there is no expectation of possibility.”

In any case, the accurate time was crucial.

And yet, if the mention of time was completely missing from the record, then you could only think that there was some kind of intention hidden there.

“The times revealed in the materials were 1:30 PM and 2 o’clock on the clock. With no other information about the time, we, who had seen the keyword ‘PM,’ naturally assumed that it was 2 PM, but… that wasn’t it.”

“What’s the basis for that?”

“First, please look at the video again.”

I brought the laptop and turned it so that Jang Yong-hwan and Yoo Tae-woon could see it, and then I played the CCTV footage.

It was still hard to see with the poor-quality black and white video.

When I thought about it, that was also strange.

“Why is it black and white?”

“Isn’t it… because it’s that kind of model?”

“No. Residential CCTVs these days all come in color. …During the daytime, that is.”

“Huh!”

“The reason why the video is in black and white is because the ‘nighttime’ mode was activated and it was changed to an infrared camera.”

It was something from my past life when I was constantly suffering from working overtime.

I used to go home from work in the early morning and come to work in the morning, and I repeated that terrible cycle.

As a result, I became familiar with the night security guards of the company.

It was during that time that I learned this piece of knowledge while talking about various things.

“If you think of it as an infrared camera, then the black and white video is also understandable. Although it’s hard to see, look at the floor here. Kim Gap-dong’s shadow isn’t visible, right?”

If the time of the incident had been during the day, the shadow would have been cast by the light coming in from the window.

However, if it was dark early in the morning, it was natural that the shadow would not be visible.

The fact that Kim Gap-dong had entered hesitantly and awkwardly was also explained.

Since it was dark and he couldn't see properly, he had no choice but to move forward carefully.

“The conversation time in the KakaoTalk is also strange.”

“The conversation time…?”

“The conspiracy between Kim Gap-dong and Lee Eul-nam took place from 1:34 PM to 1:36 PM. If the time of the crime was 2 PM, then it would be less than 30 minutes later.”

I showed the KakaoTalk capture again on the screen, as if I was answering Yoo Tae-woon’s question.

[1:34 PM] Kim Gap-dong: Let’s do a job together.

[1:35 PM] Lee Eul-nam: What job?

[1:35 PM] Kim Gap-dong: I’m going to rob A’s house. When I bring the stuff out, you take it and exchange it for cash.

[1:36 PM] Lee Eul-nam: Ugh, I was just about to take a nap at home. What’s the cut?

[1:36 PM] Kim Gap-dong: 7 to 3. You get 3.

…(Omitted)……

“However, at this time, Lee Eul-nam says that he was ‘sleeping at home.’ Then where is Lee Eul-nam’s home? If you look at the records, it turns out… it’s in Asan City, Chungcheongnam-do.”

“……!”

“A’s apartment is in Seoul. It’s physically impossible for Lee Eul-nam, who was at home in Asan City until 1:36 PM, to arrive near A’s apartment around 2 PM.”

Yoo Tae-woon was staring at me with his mouth wide open.

“If the time of the crime is at night, and therefore the crime to be examined changes to nighttime residential intrusion larceny, then the issue of attempted crimes must also be reconsidered.”

I paused for a moment.

“The precedents state that the commencement of execution for larceny is when the ‘search for property’ begins, but for nighttime residential intrusion larceny, it is when the residential intrusion begins. Reaching completion is when possession of the property is obtained.”

It was time to bring the long story to an end.

“As we examined earlier, Kim Gap-dong committed residential intrusion at A’s apartment, but he did not steal the target goods. He did begin the execution of the crime, but he did not reach completion. In other words, it’s an attempted crime.”

When the crime was larceny, it was impossible to recognize the commencement of execution, so he couldn’t be punished.

However, with nighttime residential intrusion larceny, it was already a situation where he had begun the execution of the crime, and he could be punished for attempted larceny.

If you hadn’t figured out the trick that was hidden in the records, the conclusion would have been completely different.

It was a problem where you had to interpret the hidden intentions by carefully examining the relationship between pieces of evidence, instead of just thinking about the given facts.

And it was quite malicious of them to squeeze the attempted crime issue in there.

‘If it’s like this, the trespassing crime is absorbed by nighttime residential intrusion larceny, so you can’t punish it separately… But even then, this conclusion is heavier.’

Following the original order, the conclusion that made the defendant’s crime the heaviest.

“That’s all.”

I glanced at Professor Jang Yong-hwan’s reaction.

He was silently reflecting on my argument for a long time, and then he suddenly spat out a single word.

“Can you prove it?”

‘Hah, what is this person doing?’

“It was a persuasive point. However, it’s all just an inference. It’s possible that the CCTV was just an old model and only recorded in black and white, and it’s also possible that the shadow wasn’t visible because the quality was too poor to identify it.”

Jang Yong-hwan continued with an even sharper gaze.

“In the case of KakaoTalk, it’s also possible that Lee Eul-nam lied about being at home because he didn’t want to commit the crime. There’s nothing that has been clearly proven.”

“Then we should request an investigation and submit additional evidence.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“From the start, if it was a real trial record, the time of the incident wouldn’t have been missing. You must have deleted it in the process of making the problem, professor. Although the lack of evidence is originally the responsibility of the prosecutor… you did promise that we wouldn’t ask about the distribution of responsibility in procedural law.”

This wasn’t a real original of a trial record, and I wasn’t the real prosecutor who had investigated this case.

The distinction between the prosecutor and the defense was just a name that had been given to decide the direction of the argument.

It was self-contradictory for the test maker to place the responsibility of the missing records on me when he had said that he wouldn’t ask about procedural law.

‘How dare you try to nitpick me.’

When I responded in a shameless way, Jang Yong-hwan’s lips finally curved upwards.

“Interesting.”

And then, he asked Yoo Tae-woon.

“Defense side. Do you agree with the prosecutor’s argument?”

“Y, yes! I agree!”

Yoo Tae-woon was standing there blankly and then hurriedly came to his senses and answered.

His expression was as if he had been floundering in the water and had finally found a life raft.

“Then… I’ll announce the results.”

It was the moment that I had been waiting for.

“Park Yoo-seung, 10 points. Yoo Tae-woon, 5 points. You both worked hard.”

That was, without a doubt, recognition of my answer.