By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul National University professor Lee Yoon-seong, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Cho Joong-pil, the victim in the “Itaewon murder” case, testified at the Seoul Central District Court, Wednesday, that it was possible for someone smaller than Cho to kill him, indicating Arthur Patterson who is tried as the suspect.
Cho was stabbed to death in the bathroom of a Burger King restaurant in 1997.
Previously, the prosecution had charged Edward Lee, Patterson’s friend who was also at the crime scene, based on the autopsy result that the suspect might have been taller and had a bigger build than the 176-centermeter-tall victim. Edward Lee was 180 centimeters tall and weighed 105 kilograms, while Patterson was 172 centimeters tall and weighed 63 kilograms.
The professor said his earlier assumption was based on the fact that the victim had no defensive wounds on his body. “I thought that if the victim had been attacked, he would have fought back,” he said. “But Cho had no defensive wounds, so I assumed that the attacker must have been strong enough to overpower him.”
He said this was just a general assumption, and did not rule out the possibility of Patterson being the attacker. “The victim might have stooped a little bit to urinate, and in that case, it might have been possible for a person 4 centimeters smaller than the victim to attack him.”
Also, if the first wound had been fatal, the victim would not have been able to fight back for the rest of the stabbings, he added.
However, when Patterson’s lawyer asked if it would be easier for a taller person to attack the victim, the professor said yes.
Prosecutors also asked him if the person who stabbed Cho would have more blood on his clothing than a witness at the scene, indicating Patterson. He said this would be the case.
Meanwhile, Patterson’s lawyers asked why the prosecution did not mention the red backpack the victim was wearing. In the earlier investigation in 1997, the prosecution had ruled him out as a suspect because the victim’s backpack would have prevented Patterson from attacking the victim.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19. The prosecution plans to conduct a reenactment of the crime by setting up a mockup of the restroom. For the next hearing, the court will call in Patterson and Lee’s friends who were at the restaurant as witnesses. The court said it would make a ruling in February.