According to the legal community on the 21st, the first trial hearing for Lee, who was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act (failing to take measures after an accident and obstructing a breathalyzer test) before Judge Lee Jae-wook of Criminal Division 10 at the Seoul Central District Court, is scheduled to be held at 10:20 a.m. on October 16.
Lee is accused of driving his passenger car near Cheongdam Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around 11:00 p.m. on March 6, crashing into a median divider, and then leaving the scene. Afterwards, he attended another drinking gathering and was apprehended by the police at an acquaintance's home about three hours later.
Previously, the police concluded that Lee used a so-called drinking trick to drink more alcohol after fleeing to avoid punishment, and forwarded the case to the prosecution on charges of drunk driving, obstructing a breathalyzer test, and failing to take measures after an accident. However, the prosecution dropped the drunk driving charge on the grounds that it was difficult to clearly prove whether Lee's blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving was 0.03 percent or higher, the legal threshold for punishment.
Lee has a history of two previous drunk driving-related offenses, having had his license revoked in 2003 for a drunk driving accident and refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test, and receiving a suspension of indictment in 2019 for damaging a sign while heavily intoxicated.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)