A raid with only a family of mental illnesses...Supreme Court "illegal due to lack of ability to participate"

The Supreme Court ruled that the search and seizure involving only related persons who have a mental history or are difficult to understand the search and seizure process, such as being diagnosed with disability, is illegal.

The Supreme Court reversed the court case, which sentenced A, who was charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act, to 10 months in prison and returned the case to the Incheon District Court.

Mr. A was put on trial in May 2019 for storing hemp in a safe of residence, and the investigative agency obtained a search warrant and raided the residence where only Mr. A's daughter was.

The first and second trials saw no problem, but the Supreme Court pointed out that A's daughter was hospitalized more than 10 times for mental illness-related symptoms and diagnosed with intellectual disability in a psychological evaluation.

He explained that if he participates in the seizure and search execution, he should have at least the ability to understand the meaning of the procedure, but there is room for A's daughter to be considered to have lacked the ability to participate in the seizure and search process.

In addition, even though the investigative agency was able to fully recognize this through psychiatric treatment details, the search and seizure involving only A's daughter was illegal.