STORY: " Kim honors Han Tak Lee with legislation," by Associate Editor Ryan Brady, published by the Queen's Chronicle on May 5, 2016.
SUB-HEADING: "Pol to introduce legislation to prevent wrongful convictions in arson cases."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Han Tak Lee, left, joined Assemblyman Ron
Kim and Asian Americans for Equality chief Chris Kui to announce a new
bill to prevent false arson convictions. In 2014, Lee was exonerated
after living 24 years in several prisons because of a wrongful
arson-murder conviction."
GIST: "Flushing resident
Han Tak Lee was exonerated after going to prison for 24 years for a
crime for which he was wrongfully convicted: killing his daughter in the
arson of a house. And Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) is working to
prevent other people from suffering from the same predicament. “We want to make
sure that this type of wrongful conviction is not in New York,” Kim said
during a press conference at his district office last Thursday, where
he was joined by Lee and Asian Americans for Equality Executive Director
Chris Kui.
After the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
allowed Lee’s request for a review of the prosecutors’ convicting
evidence four years ago, the magistrate judge that led the review found
that the theories used to convict him were based on “little more than
superstition.” In 2014, he was exonerated. Aiming to end the use of outdated investigative
theories, Kim’s legislation aims to require all arson investigators in
the state to be certified with the most recent National Fire Protection
Association 921 guidelines. Lee, who is 82 years old and emigrated from South
Korea, has not received compensation from the State of Pennsylvania,
despite having been incarcerated there on a false basis for a quarter of
a century because of the state’s no-fault policy..........With a Kim staffer interpreting his Korean, Lee told his story. His daughter was killed in a fire during a
religious retreat in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in 1989. Lee, who
took the trip with her, appeared unemotional when he spoke to
investigators — a common public reaction to tragic events in Asian
cultures. This fact, the cultural dimension of which is not understood
by many Americans, was cited by the district attorney as evidence for
the case. “It wasn’t based on any evidence of scientific proof that the fire was set by Mr. Lee,” Kim said. The bill, which Kim aims to pass before the current legislative session ends, has not yet been introduced in Albany."
The entire story can be found at:
The entire story can be found at:
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I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;
Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
