According to legal sources on the 16th, the public defender assigned to Kim filed a notice with the Seoul Northern District Court that day seeking permission to resign. When a detained defendant lacks counsel, the court must appoint a public defender. A court-appointed lawyer may seek to resign with the court’s approval for substantial reasons, such as assault, threats, or a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship. If the court approves the resignation, it will assign another public defender to represent the defendant.
On the 10th, prosecutors indicted and detained Kim on charges that, between mid-December last year and the 9th of last month, she gave benzodiazepine-laced drinks to three men in their 20s, causing them to lose consciousness or die. The charges include murder and violations of the Narcotics Control Act.
Investigators report that those three met Kim between October last year and January this year in Seoul’s Seocho and Gangbuk districts and consumed drinks that contained benzodiazepine-class drugs. Forensic testing by the National Forensic Service detected the same benzodiazepine compound that Kim is alleged to have put in the drink in one victim’s body.
Officials say they are awaiting the National Forensic Service’s results for one of the two remaining victims. The other victim showed no trace of the same compound, but police suspect the elapsed time between the incident and testing accounts for that. Kim’s first trial is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on the 9th of next month at the Seoul Northern District Court.
