Korea's top court sentences killer to 20 years in jail for 1997 Itaewon murder case

대법 '이태원 살인사건' 진범 오늘 선고…20년만에 단죄 Korea's Supreme Court has sentenced Arthur Patterson to 20 years behind bars. The decision comes almost 2 decades after the American citizen murdered a Korean college student in Seoul's Itaewon district. For details we turn to Kim Jung-soo The Supreme Court of Korea on Wednesday delivered its final verdict regarding the infamous Itaewon Burger King murder case. The nation's top court upheld the Seoul High Court's ruling of a 20-year sentence for U.S. citizen Arthur John Patterson for the murder of Cho Joong-pil, a Korean college student who was found stabbed to death at a Burger King restaurant in Seoul's popular district of Itaewon two decades ago. The twenty-year sentence is the strongest penalty possible for the 37-year-old Patterson according to Korean law,... as he was under 18 years old at the time of the murder. Patterson was promptly arrested along with Korean-American Edward Lee. Both suspects accused each other of the murder. What appeared to be a relatively simple case at first, turned put to be a 20-decade-long headache for the prosecution due to the improper handling of various bureaucratic and legal issues surrounding the case. Prosecutors had first identified Lee as the prime suspect, while Patterson was treated as an accomplice and sentenced to 18 months in prison for lesser charges including obstruction of justice. But in 1998, the Supreme Court acquitted Lee for lack of evidence, while Patterson was released prematurely as part of an Amnesty program. And since prosecutors had failed to properly extend a travel ban on Patterson, he was able to flee back to the U.S. in August, 1999. Receiving fierce and widespread criticism from the public as well as the victim's family, the prosecution finally reopened the case in 2009. With the help of the U.S. Department of Justice, Patterson was captured in May of 2011 and extradited to Korea in September of 2015, and eventually sentenced to the 20-year term by the Seoul High Court in 2016. The mother of the victim said she is relieved to hear the final verdict. "I hope my son can be born wealthy in his next life so he can do everything he wishes to do and also help others in need, just as he was helped by many after he died." Kim Jung-soo, Arirang News. Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS):   / newsarirang   Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook:   / arirangtv   Twitter:   / arirangworld   Instagram:   / arirangworld