Profanity Posted on Social Media After a Broken Engagement — Indicted for Insult

Case Overview

The defendant had been about to marry the victim, but conflict between the two sides ultimately led to the engagement being broken off. Afterward, the defendant posted on Instagram that both of the complaints the victim had filed against him had ended in 'no suspicion' findings. He additionally posted a photo of himself raising his middle finger with the caption 'Here, eat another one,' and the Prosecution indicted him for insult, alleging that this publicly insulted the victim. However, the post contained neither the victim's real name nor any specific identifying details, and it was unclear whether any third party other than the victim could actually have identified the victim from it.

Our Strategy

We consistently emphasized that our client had merely vented feelings of injustice as a simple expression of emotion, with no intent to socially demean or show contempt for any specific person. Drawing on Supreme Court precedent, I focused on analyzing the 'lowering of social esteem' element of the offense of insult, and argued that while the defendant's expression may have been somewhat rude or emotional, it fell within the category of legally protected expression of feeling. In particular, I persuasively showed the court that the post was written in an abstract, metaphorical manner without any specific accusation or defamatory expression, and that there were no clear objective elements by which the former partner could be identified. As a result, the court acquitted the defendant, finding that even if the expression was vulgar or rude, it did not actually lower the victim's social worth or esteem, and our client's sense of injustice was finally resolved.

Result · Acquittal

This is the result of an individual case and does not guarantee a similar outcome. Some facts have been generalized and personal information redacted to protect the client.

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Attorney in charge: Dongwoo Shin