The extradition of an American suspect this week has rekindled public attention on a 1997 murder case, which was so dramatic that it was made into a movie in 2009 titled “The Case of Itaewon Homicide.”
Arthur Patterson, 36, was taken to the Seoul Detention Center after arriving from the U.S. on Wednesday. He will stand trial in a Seoul court over the charge that he stabbed to death a Korean university student 18 years ago.
The tragic death of Cho Joong-pil, 22, took place in the restroom of a Burger King store in Itaewon, a district frequented by foreigners and young locals. Cho was found dead after suffering nine stabs into his neck and chest.
Patterson, then a dependent of a civilian staff member of the U.S. military and his Korean wife, was in the restroom along with his Korean-American friend, Edward Lee. A local court found Lee guilty of murdering Cho and sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1998. Patterson was charged only with destruction of evidence and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
However, the ruling on Lee was overturned by the Supreme Court and Patterson was also released in a Liberation Day amnesty. Authorities inadvertently did not extend the overseas travel ban on Patterson and he fled to the U.S. in 1999.
The Korean prosecution reopened the case about 10 years later, after the film stirred the public and there were renewed calls for justice. In 2011, the prosecution pointed to Patterson as the perpetrator of the vicious killing. In May of that year, Patterson was taken into custody by U.S. authorities and the Korean prosecution started work on the extradition.
A U.S. court issued an extradition order in 2012, but Patterson avoided deportation by repeatedly submitting habeas corpus petitions.
Upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport, Patterson denied the charges. “It’s not right that they (the family of the victim) have to keep going through this pain over and over and over, but it’s not right that I’m here either,” he said.
“I’m still shocked that I’m even here,” he said, maintaining his position that Lee committed the crime.
Whether he was telling the truth or not will be determined by the court. Whoever he is, the criminal who took the life of an innocent young man without reason and in such a brutal way must be brought to justice.
That would be the least the country can do to alleviate the pain of the victim’s families and friends, who have suffered so much for such a long time.
