A court found that "material greed" drove Kim So-young, 20, who is accused of killing two men and injuring four others by handing them drink laced with sedatives, according to details of the ruling made public.
Attorney Son Su-ho, appearing on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show" on the 14th, walked through the sequence of the crimes and the motive based on the 108-page first-instance ruling.
On the motive, Son said, "To use the court's own words, it was 'material greed.'" He added that the court found her behavior across her life had been focused on getting what she wanted, and that she showed a lack of guilt and empathy, a self-centered attitude and marked impulsivity. "The court concluded that she took financial gain from men and, once she decided she no longer needed it, used drugs to avoid them and subdue them easily," he said.
Kim dated one of the victims for about two months and had him bear costs unilaterally, including about 4.5 million won ($3,200) in hotel bills as well as daily necessities, cosmetics and clothing, according to the investigation. "This victim took the stand and said there were days when he spent more than 2 million won on a single date," Son said.
Another victim was a designated driver. He had exchanged contact details with Kim when she called for a driver after the earlier victim collapsed. Kim pressed him to go to a motel with her, ordered 68,000 won worth of fried chicken and drugged him into unconsciousness, the investigation found. When the victim asked the next day where the chicken had gone, Kim instead intimidated him, suggesting that he had tried to touch her at the motel that night, and got taxi fare out of him, investigators found.
On why Kim chose motels as the site of the crimes, Son said she "used the nature of that kind of space." He explained, "She made them expect, or led them to believe, that sex was possible or about to happen, and then made unreasonable demands."
The court, however, found that material desire alone did not explain the entire series of crimes. In the earlier offenses she had already seen that relatively small doses were enough to render a victim unconscious, and she could have extracted greater financial gain had she kept the relationships going.
A clinical psychology analyst at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Kim "perceived men as negative, intimidating and aggressive figures while at the same time seeing them as a means of easy gain." The analyst added, "Low cognitive functioning, a self-centered attitude and a pattern of avoidance in difficult situations combined, and she became absorbed in relieving momentary discomfort and displeasure without regard for the harm done to others."
Kim's IQ was in fact found to be markedly low, in the bottom 4%. "Kim's IQ is 74," Son said, adding that she was assessed as lacking the capacity for multitasking and cognitive flexibility, making it difficult for her to draw up an elaborate, multilayered plan.
Kim also scored 25 out of 40 on a psychopathy assessment, according to Son. "She recorded the highest possible score on the affective items, particularly for a lack of empathy and guilt," he said, stressing that she regarded others solely as a means of getting what she wanted.
Kim was sentenced to life in prison at first instance on charges of giving benzodiazepine-laced drinks to three men in their 20s between mid-December last year and the 9th of last month, leaving them unconscious or dead. Prosecutors, who had sought the death penalty, appealed on the grounds that the sentence was light relative to the culpability. Kim's side also filed an appeal, so the appellate court is expected to revisit the sentence, the partial acquittal and whether intent to kill was established.
