I was perusing crazy courtroom moments on YouTube, when I stumbled upon the outburst of some emo-haired fuckhead. After watching some more of his antics, I started to wonder, “What is this guy’s deal?”

In 2015, Jimmy Carter Kim had the brilliant idea to abduct a teenage girl and use her as a sex slave. He groomed his victim over social media, lured her into an in-person meetup in Arizona, then took her away to his dad’s home in Nevada. For about a month, he assaulted her repeatedly, using knives and a gun to threaten her. He didn’t let her leave the room she was locked in, making her use a bucket as a toilet. Eventually, the victim was able to escape by picking the lock on the door. The cops showed up to arrest Kim and search the house. There, they found pictures and videos of him abusing not only the girl they just helped, but at least two others. (There might be more than four victims, but I’m not sure.)

Kim was charged with a total of 83 counts, including kidnapping, sexual assault, and production of child pornography. Several federal charges were tossed in, since he crossed state lines in order to commit a crime involving a minor. He had a plea bargain on the table that would have given him an automatic 35 years in prison. He swiftly rejected it, and wanted to move to trial. 

In Nevada, once a defendant’s mental competency is in question, the defendant is required to undergo two psychiatric evaluations in order to proceed with trial. Kim did the first exam, but refused to do the second. When asked “why?” at the competency hearing, Kim said this.

I had to pause the original video I was watching after hearing this. I don’t understand what the end goal for Kim was here. I’m no psychologist or lawyer, so I can just speculate. I’ve read/seen people in criminal trials deliberately pretending to be insane to avoid prison. I’ve also read/seen people getting so offended at being labelled “legally insane” that they go out of their way to prove they’re mentally sound. But, Kim here seemed to be trying to do both of these. 

Slipping into a bad British accent is just weird, especially when it hadn’t happened prior to that day. People thought it was weird when Madonna did it; some pedo doing it makes it weirder. It’s another thing to just jerk yourself off over how great you are while you’re literally on the hook for sex crimes against minors. You would think that if you’re trying to insist that you’re a good person who would never commit such heinous crimes, you wouldn’t call yourself “charismatic” or “fetching.” Also of note, he’s fumbling over his words like crazy, pretending he’s smarter than he really is. It’s as if his brain is in a tug-of-war, with one side trying to prove there’s nothing wrong with him, but the other needing to profess how he’s God’s gift to humanity. 

What makes this more confusing is that Kim WANTED to go to trial and avoid that automatic 35 years. Why would you torpedo your own speedy trial like this? Again, I’m just speculating, but it kind of feels like he’s trying to get an insanity defense going, but fucking it up.

A lot of people call insanity defenses the “get out of jail free card.” This is more of a “yes, but no” situation. If a person is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t commit the crime. It just means that they can’t be held to the same level of culpability as a “sane” person. That’s why those who are found legally insane aren’t just released into the public. They are instead confined to mental health facilities until they are no longer seen as a threat to the public. These psychiatric holds can last a few years, like with Mathew Charles Lamb, or until they fucking die, like Howard Unruh. Confinement to a mental health facility could very well become a “life without parole” deal. 

You can still get stabbed in a psych facility, just saying.

The results of being legally insane during a crime are different from being unfit to stand trial. With the latter, the defendant is placed on a psych hold until they’re deemed fit. If they are, the trial proceeds, and they can be sentenced to prison. If not, the defendant is sent to a mental facility, probably with higher security, to restore competency. Again, this can take years, depending on whether the defendant commits to the bit. Basically, playing around with mental competency before the trial is a gamble, and one may end up getting more time in confinement than they were originally going to get.

All of this to say, because Jimmy Carter Kim was an arrogant shit, he was found unfit to stand trial. He was sent back to a psych facility to “restore his competency,” even though the victim’s families knew Kim was just faking it to delay the trial.

To the ire of everyone else, Kim’s plan worked. Nearly 4 years after that outburst happened, another plea deal was put on the table for less prison time, and Kim took it. The deal involved dropping nearly all of his 83 charges. The sentence would have him serve both his state and federal time concurrently, give him credit for time served, put him on probation for more than 30 years, as well as permanent sex offender status. In total, Kim was given 15 years in prison.

Many people, the judge included, don’t think this was an appropriate amount of time for someone who kidnapped and raped minors. But, the judge and prosecution didn’t want the victim to have to relive her trauma, considering she was still undergoing mental and physical therapy for her ordeal.

Even though Kim will only be approaching his 50s when he is released, that doesn’t mean he’s having an easy time in jail. He had been beaten up a couple of times by other inmates before they put him in the sex offender wing. So, a bit of positivity on that front, I guess.