公訴狀變更에 있어서 公訴時效完成의 판단기준

Abstract

Criminal procedure is the course of the fulfillment of the criminal law in respect to the prevention and punishment of offenses. It is composed of the rules governing the series of proceedings through which the substantive criminal law is enforced. The rules of criminal procedure are subject to important constitutional limits and they are designed to ensure that a defendant's rights are protected. Criminal procedure provides basic protections including the right to an attorney, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a jury trial, among others. Accordingly, it must balance the defendant's rights and the public interests in a speedy and efficient trial with the desire for justice. The prosecutor endowed the right of the discretion to prosecute deliver the indictment to the judge of the court when there is admissible and reliable evidence that an offence has been committed. An "Indictment" is the written statement of a jury accusing a person therein named of some act or omission which, by law, is declared to be an offense. As provided in Article 249 of the korean code of criminal procedure, the indictment should be presented within some time limits from the date of the commission of the offense. In deciding whether the prosecutor lose the time of the prosecution or not, when the prosecutor changes the records(informations) of the indictment during the criminal procedure as to the article 298 of the korean code of criminal procedure, the criterion of the decision should be not the time of the initial prosecution(the attitude of the korean supreme court) but the time of changing the bill of indictment and the crime newly recorded in the bill. Such a new interpretation will serve the purpose of the criminal procedure to guarantee the right of the accused having a speedy public trial by an impartial jury.