Review on the Science Experts' Opinions cited by the Supreme Court Reversing the Original Judgements for the Murder Cases.

Korean J Leg Med. 1999 Oct;23(2):27-36. Korean.

Department of Forensic Medicine, Catholic University Medical School, Korea.

National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Southern Branch, Korea.

The authors selected 19 murder cases, which were reversed by the Supreme Court with citation of experts' opinions in its judgements. The original courts sentenced that 15 cases were guilty, and 4 cases innocent. There were 38 experts' opinions including 16 of both pathological and serological fields. Others are 2 for questioned documents, 1 for fingerprint, 1 for shoeprint, 1 for fire, 1 for material object. The Supreme Court kept the attitude paying regard to experts' opinions with rather strict interpretation of them. Also it had great concern about the procedures collecting evidences and rationalities of experts' opinions. In some cases, it pointed out that the original court should have investigated further to clarify the vague evidences and opinions. We commented briefly about some possible controversies on the experts' opinions and interpretations of the Supreme Court, strictly in the viewpoint of forensic pathology.

Key words: experts’ opinion, murder cases, Supreme Court