Supreme Court convicts American of the 1997 murder in Itaewon

The final verdict on the famous “Itaewon murder” was announced after the murder case first opened 20 years ago. An American citizen, Arthur John Patterson, now 38, was convicted of murdering a Korean college student, allegedly for fun, who dropped by a burger restaurant with his girlfriend.

Supreme Court chief judge Kim Jae-hyung confirmed the original verdict on the murder case on Wednesday and sentenced Patterson to 20 years in prison for killing Jo Jung-pil, then 22, in 1997. The 20-year sentence in prison handed down to Patterson by the court is the maximum possible penalty to a minor under the age of 18 in Korea. Patterson was 17 years old when the murder happened in 1997.

The court’s verdict read, “The murder by Patterson with a knife has been clearly justified without any reasonable doubts.” “Considering many factors involved in this case, the 20-year sentence is not considered heavy.”

Patterson killed Jo by stabbing his neck and chest several times with a 9.5 centimeter-long knife in a restroom of a burger restaurant in Itaewon on April 3, 1997. After the case was reported, the Criminal Investigation Department of the U.S. Army in Korea handed Patterson over to Korean prosecutors as a suspect of the murder according to initial investigation results.

However, Korean prosecutors indicted Edward Lee, now 38, as the murder suspect, who was in the restroom of the murder scene with Patterson and Jo based on investigation and lie-detector tests. During the investigation and at the court room, Patterson and Lee blamed and accused each other of killing Jo. Lee’s charge was lifted by the Supreme Court in April 1998 due to a lack of evidence and Lee was freed from the prison. Patterson fled to the U.S. next year before Korean prosecutors extended a ban on his travel.

The loss of Patterson should be blamed on Korean prosecutors’ inability and mistakes during the investigation. Moreover, prosecutors had never shown any commitments to reopen the Itaewon murder case before the movie entitled “The case of Itaewon homicide” based on the murder of Jo was released in 2009 and the public’s anger intensified. Though belated, Korean prosecutors took Patterson back from the U.S. government in September 2015.

During the first and second trials in last January and September, respectively, the Court convicted Patterson of the murder of Jo, saying, “The fact that Patterson killed Jo is justified based on evidence such as blood stain on hair and cloth and witness’ testimony.” “Lee is not only a witness to the murder and rather he is an accomplice in killing of Jo.” But Lee was able to avoid any penalties from the murder this time because Korean laws do not allow punishing a person more than twice for the same charge. The court previously ruled that Lee was not guilty for the murder of Jo.

“Jo can rest now. He does not appear in my dream anymore,” Jo Song-jeon, the father of Jo, 77, said. Lee Bok-su, the mother of Jo, 75, appeared tearfully and said, “I wish my son would born to a rich family in his next life and do whatever he likes to do”

Jun-Il Kim jikim@donga.com