(Herald DB) An appellate court overturned an earlier ruling that cleared the defendant in a drunk driving case, instead sentencing him to a year in prison, the court said Thursday.The appellate division of the Daejeon District Court handed down a guilty verdict, saying it is unreasonable to believe that the man consumed a lot of alcohol after causing a car crash on June 16, 2024. The court rejected the defendant's claim that he drank at his parents' home after causing the accident, and then reported the case to the police,The defendant drove his car into a canal near his parents' home in Sejong at around 2:09 a.m. that day. He called the police at 3:14 a.m., and his blood alcohol content was tested at 0.153 percent at 4:57 p.m.This exceeds the 0.08% BAC level that warrants a driving license being revoked.The first instance ruling said the prosecution had failed to sufficiently prove that the defendant had been drunk at the time of the accident. While the court strongly suspected drunk driving, it pointed out that the prosecution should have provided evidence on the defendant's BAC level at the time.The appellate court, however, accepted the prosecution's claim that it is unreasonable to assume that he caused the accident, went to his parents' home and drank a lot of alcohol in the short time before calling the police. Prosecutors also submitted testimony from his acquaintance, who told them he sounded very drunk when they talked on the phone just after the accident.The defendant also told the 112 emergency operators initially that he drove while drunk, then later told them "never mind."