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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder and Arson |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment without possibility of parole |
Years Imprisoned: |
24 |
Year Crime: |
1989 |
Year Convicted: |
1990 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Pennsylvania |
County or Region of Crime: |
Monroe |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Han Tak Lee was wrongly convicted on September 17, 1990 of murder and arson in the death of his 20-year-old daughter Ji Yun Lee in 1989. Lee was a native of Korea, and a naturalized U.S. citizen. His daughter, who suffered from severe mental illness, died in a fire at the cabin where she and her father were staying at Camp Hebron, a Korean Christian retreat in Pennsylvania's Pocono mountains. Lee's prosecution was based on the testimony of a Pennsylvanai State Police fire marshal that arson was evidenced by deep charring and blistering of wood in the cabin, that the windows had a series of tiny fractures, and what he believed were at least eight points of origin for the fire. The fire marshall's testimony was based on orthodoxies of the day regarding fire origins and arson. After his conviction by a jury Lee, 55, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Lee's direct appeal was denied. The Pennsylvania state courts denied Lee's post-conviction peitition for a new trial based on the new evidence by fire expert John J. Lentini that the fire was likely not arson, because all of the factors had been discredited that the fire marshall had relied on to determine it was arson. Lee then filed a federal habeas corpus petititon on October 29, 2008 that was denied by the U.S. district court judge who denied Lee to conduct discovery and denied an evidentiary hearing. Lee appealed, and on January 27, 2012 the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals remanded his case to the district court with instructions to allow Lee to conduct discovery and to hold an evidentiary hearing. In 2014 the federal judge granted Lee's petition and ordered a new trial based on new scientific evidence that the fire was not arson, and that the testimony of the fire marshall the jury relied on to convict him as was based on “little more than superstition” Lee was released on bond on August 22, 2014. The State appealed the ruling, and on August 19, 2015 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of a new trial, stating, "The commonwealth concedes that, due to scientific developments since Lee’s trial in 1990, the basis for all of this evidence is now invalid.” On November 17, 2015 Monroe County District Attorney David Christine announced that the appeals court's ruling affirming the grant of a new trial would not be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that his office would not retry Lee. In response to Christine's announcement, Lee's longtime lawyer Peter Goldberger told reporters that he was "very gratified that justice has finally prevailed and that this long sad saga is over."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 17, 2015 Monroe County District Attorney David Christine announced that the appeals court's ruling affirming a new trial would not be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that his office would not retry Lee." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Attorney Peter Goldberger and fire expert John J. Lentini. |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
55 |
Age When Released: |
79 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Asian |
Information Source 1: |
"Monroe County drops fatal Poconos arson case, By Associated Press, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), November 17, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-monroe-drops-fatal-arson-case-20151117-story.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Han Tak Lee v. Glunt, 667 F. 3d 397 (3rd Cir. 2012) (Remanding for discovery and an evidentiary hearing by the U.S. District Court)" |
Information Location 2: |
"https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11384904758348080786&q=Han+Tak+Lee&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48" |
Information Source 3: |
"Court refuses to reinstate man's 1990 arson-murder conviction, By Associated Press, The Guardian (London), August 19, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/19/court-refuses-reinstate-conviction-arson-murder |
Information Source 4: |
"Man who served 24 years released after arson-murder case thrown out, By Carey Reed PBS Newshour, August 24, 2014" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/conviction-quashed-man-freed-bail-serving-24-years-arson-murder/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org