Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Bulletin: Han Tak Lee; New York; (Out-dated arson 'science' conviction): Momentous development: Case against father who spent 24 years in jail over his mentally ill daughter's death in a fire is dropped because arson experts were using theories that were 'little more than superstition'; Han Tak Lee, 80, from Queens, New York, was convicted of arson. His mentally ill daughter, Ji Yun Lee, 20, died in a cabin fire in 1989. However, Mr Lee was exonerated in 2014, and case is now dropped. "However, Mr Lee was exonerated and freed in August 2014, after a judge concluded that his 1990 conviction was based on since-discredited scientific theories about arson. "Daily Mail.


"An elderly man who spent 24 years in prison for his daughter's death in a fire before his conviction was overturned will remain free now that an eastern Pennsylvania prosecutor has decided to drop the case.   Han Tak Lee, 80, from Queens, New York, had taken his mentally ill daughter Ji Yun Lee, 20, to a retreat in Pennsylvania in 1989, where she died after their cabin burned down. Mr Lee, a native of South Korea who became a US citizen about 30 years ago, was accused of setting fire to the house, and convicted for arson in 1990.  (PHOTO CAPTION): Truly free at last: Han Tak Lee, spent 24 years in prison after being found responsible for his daughter's death in a fire in 1989, before a judge threw out his arson-murder conviction last year.
However, Mr Lee was exonerated and freed in August 2014, after a judge concluded that his 1990 conviction was based on since-discredited scientific theories about arson.  Monroe County District Attorney David Christine said Tuesday that he decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the chance of success too remote. He said a retrial of the 80-year-old is impossible due to loss of evidence and witnesses. 'We believe we have done our best to fulfill our obligation to defend the jury's verdict against Mr. Lee,' Christine said. 'All legal avenues to preserve the verdict have now been exhausted.' Lee's longtime attorney, Peter Goldberger, said he was 'very gratified that justice has finally prevailed and that this long sad saga is over.' PHOTO CAPTION: "Wrongfully jailed: Mr Lee,  pictured as he is lead to the State Police barracks for processing in 1989,  had taken his mentally ill daughter Ji Yun Lee, 20, to a retreat, where she died after their cabin burned down." PHOTO CAPTION:  "Quite the different walk: However, Mr Lee was exonerated and freed in August 2014, after a judge concluded that his 1990 conviction was based on since-discredited scientific theories about arson." Lee's conviction was one of dozens to be called into question around the United States amid revolutionary changes in investigators' understanding of how an intentionally set fire can be distinguished from an accidental one.  A state police fire marshal testified at Lee's trial that the wood in the cabin was deeply charred and blistered, that the windows had a series of tiny fractures and that he had found at least eight points of origin for the fire, all evidence of arson, according to the orthodoxies of the day. The jury convicted Lee of murder and sentenced him to life without parole. After years of appeals, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Lee's request for an independent review of the evidence. The review, led by a magistrate judge, concluded the expert testimony used to convict him was based on 'little more than superstition.'"