By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A high court in Seoul acquitted one U.S. soldier and reduced the jail term for another on charges of the attempted rape of an undercover female police officer.
The Seoul High Court Tuesday reduced the sentence imposed by a lower court of three years and six months imprisonment on Anthoney Basel, 24, to 18 months suspended for two years. At the same time, it also acquitted Marc Feldmann, 22, who had received a three-year jail term at the lower court on charges of collaborating with Basel.
The two were indicted with physical detention in April last year on charges of attempting to rape the 28-year-old plain-clothes policewoman at a public restroom in a building in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul.
``Taking into account all testimonies, we've reached the conclusion that there is no evidence proving they conspired or shared roles in the crime,'' the court said in its ruling. The court said that a witness's testimony that he did not see Feldmann at the crime scene was reliable, though he made a different statement later. ``Human memory becomes unclear as time goes by. Thus, the testimony made in the early stages of questioning is the most reliable,'' the ruling said.
``The only witness to the crime said Basel had been the only one at the crime scene during the first questioning. But he overturned his testimony, alleging the two were in the restroom in the second inquiry and he continued changing his testimony,'' the court added. ``Therefore, we cannot believe that Feldmann was involved in the crime.''
On the reasons for the term reduction for Basel, the court said `` he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following his participation in the Iraq War.''
The two U.S. soldiers are stationed in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province.