Thailand’s Supreme Court has been in the news recently due to a change in a ruling from previous court rulings from the Court of Appeals and the Court of First Instance. This Thailand Bail news article, written in June 2021, will briefly review the Thai Supreme Court’s decision, so that this can be applied to your case if you are considering an appeal. It should be noted that many people hesitate to lodge appeals at the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court level, as they do not think that the ruling will change. We have seen Thai court rulings change significantly from court to court, so

it is important to review your specific court case judgment in order to determine the effectiveness of an appeal to the Thai Appeals Court or the Thai Supreme Court, depending on what status your case in the Thai court is currently in.

---

---

A Thai man had shot dead a young man who approached his vehicle after a verbal altercation. The shooter said that he feared for the lives of his family members, who were also in the car with him. The incident resulted from a parking dispute, where the youth and his friends were blocking the shooter’s car from leaving a certain location. The shooting happened in early 2017. The Thai Court of First Instance, which in this case was the Chonburi Provincial Court in Chonburi, Thailand, made it judgment that the shooter was guilty of planning a murder and committing murder. The prison term from the Thai judges was ten (10) years in prison as well as fines to be paid to the court for the criminal act and compensation to be paid to the family of the deceased. This ruling was made around 18 months after the initial arrest. The defendant appealed the case, which was then accepted by the Court of Appeals. The Thai Appeals Court made its decision around one (1) year after the First Court’s judgment and upheld the decision of the First Court – keeping the judgment the same.

---

However, the Supreme Court of Thailand made a change in the decision in June 2021 when it handed down a five (5) year prison term for excessive use of force during self defense, which was further reduced to one third of the original ten (10) years, which was three (3) years and four (4) months. However, the prison term was suspended (not custodial) for three (3) years, and the shooter was given probation for two (2) years.

---

This situation is not as rare as many people think. Thailand Bail has seen significantly different judgments from First Court to Appeals Court and from Appeals Court to Supreme Court. If you are considering an appeal of your case in Thailand, contact Thailand Bail to discuss how we can support.