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Okay, I have speed.
Let's start from the beginning,
- Might as well. - Okay.
It didn't look good for you when they came for your arrest.
You had 41 rounds of live ammo and a .357 magnum in your room,
you were on probation for felony theft.
Is that a different issue?
No, I mean, it is a whole different issue.
A lot of people say...
I was not an angel on the outside.
At the same time, I was not the devil.
But whatever I was on the outside does not justify
to frame a person to put him in prison
for a murder he did not commit.
That is no excuse.
FREE CHOL SOO LEE
At the time,
I was a couple months short of my 21st birthday.
I was just a young street punk,
not even thinking about the time of day.
And I was living in Chinatown.
I used to hang out around Jackson Street,
and at Mike's pool hall,
which were popular spots for the Chinatown street gangs.
But I was not bothered once by them.
I had a quiet personality.
I often felt like the lone Korean in Chinatown.
When I first met Chol Soo Lee, he was always smiling.
I think he smiled for us.
He was always smiling.
So at that time,
my older sister, she worked in a pearl store.
Each time she was going to open an oyster, Chol Soo,
he would peer over to her opening and revealing the pearl.
And he asked her about that.
''How do you know there's gonna be a pearl inside?''
And ''what kinds of pearls are going to come out?''
And he stuck around and he stuck around 'til closing.
She just felt that he was alone,
and so she just said,
''You wanna come over for dinner?'' And he said yes.
He knew a lot of people.
But he would always be the only Korean,
and so everybody...
''You mean the Korean guy?''
And we'd just see him.
We'd go out to eat sometimes after work.
There's once he asked me to go see his probation officer
with him because he said,
''If I bring this nice Japanese girl, then they'll think''
''that I have good friends and think better of me.''
I was on probation for theft.
Ever since I arrived from Korea as a kid,
I didn't like staying home,
so I was out on the street a lot.
When you're out there, what are you gonna eat?
You have to steal something, or do something, right?
By 1973, I was doing odd jobs.
Sometimes I'd work as a barker
for the strip joints on Broadway.
Those are the guys who stand in front of the night clubs
trying to lure in the customers.
One night the manager showed me his gun.
It was the first time I ever held a gun before.
I asked if I could borrow it.
Back at my place, I was cocking it back and forth, you know,
messing around with it...
Then accidentally shot the wall.
Five days later, I was arrested.
But when they told me it was for a murder,
I couldn't believe what they were saying.
I didn't know nothing about any murder.
JUNE 3, 1973
Yip Yee Tak was gunned down execution-style
in front of hundreds of terrified witnesses.
The shooting occurred around 7:30 pm at the intersection
of Pacific and Grant Avenues.
Eyewitnesses say the victim was shot from behind in the head
by a Chinese man in his early 20s.
They said the bullet I shot into my wall
was shot from the murder weapon.
We ended up with 3 positive identifications
of Mr. Lee as being the perpetrator of the killing.
It was regarding a $10,000 alleged rip-off
by the victim from his own gang.
HIS FEAR OF BEING KILLED CAME TRUE
And they hired Mr. Lee to kill
one of their own members for taking this money.
It just shocked me that Chol Soo
would have been arrested for a Chinatown murder.
In Chinatown, people knew that the Korean didn't do it.
I am a Korean, and Chinese is Chinese.
And I felt that eventually this...
which I felt at first was just a misunderstanding,
would be straightened out in due time.
JURY SAYS ''GUILTY'' IN CHINATOWN KILLING
KOREAN CONVICTED IN SAN FRANCISCO SLAYING GETS LIFE SENTENCE
I had been sentenced to life in prison
for a crime I did not commit.
It was a quiet trip.
I looked out the window like it might be
my last time seeing the view.
The deputy had the radio playing at a low volume,
and there was a song I still remember hearing
during that drive:
''You're Still a Young Man'' by Tower of Power
I felt very old,
as if life was closing in on me at age 21.
DEUEL VOCATIONAL INSTITUTION
As soon as I got to the prison,
I was subjected to my first strip search.
Put your head down.
OK, raise your arms up.
Up higher.
Spread your legs.
Okay, this time I want you to bend over.
As many times as we had to repeat this routine,
convicts never felt indifferent to the degradation
and dehumanization of such treatment.
This built up a fire of hell within us.
These are members of prison gangs,
men so violent that the maximum-security unit
is divided into sections for different gangs
to keep them from attacking each other
and from preying on non-members.
I was at one of California's most violent prisons
at a time when all the gangs were at war with each other.
Its nickname was ''Gladiator School.''
Within less than one year,
I witnessed a convict get his head bashed in.
Another killed on a weight bench.
And one inmate get stabbed 24 times, right out in the open.
This suddenly became my world.
How was I,
an inexperienced, lone Asian convict,
going to stay alive?
WARNING KEEP HANDS OFF GATE
I followed the first rule of survival in any prison system:
Show no fear.
This wrongness was so wrong.
What uh...?
What are you going to do about it?
And I thought,
''I'm going to become that lawyer''
''that will take that kind of case.''
And then at that point,
all I could do was just like be his friend.
DEAR RANKO,
THE BEAUTIFULEST AND BEST.
FALTA TEXTO
MORE THAN A FRIEND.
I started to have feelings for her.
But she did not feel the same way about me.
That could have caused her to cut me off.
But she didn't.
Instead, Ranko's response all throughout the years
reflected a struggle for justice as her main inspiration.
It may not have been a personal relationship,
but Ranko's friendship was pure light in my darkened world.
AFTER 4 YEARS IN PRISON
Colorful... the morning's Sacramento Union!
Good news, great people.
People like K.W. Lee,
award-winning investigative reporter.
K.W Lee, digging, probing,
tackling the bureaucracy, infiltrating the unknown.
Read K.W. Lee!
So I learned from a drug counselor in Chinatown.
He was casually saying,
''Hey, it's a shame that, the Korean kid got railroaded.''
Here, I was looking into a case which is already four years old.
But I don't leap into conclusion.
I'm an investigative reporter,
and I follow the smell.
I kept reading the court records and
things shouted at me.
OFFICIAL COURT REPORTERS
The arresting officer on the stand
to identify Chol Soo Lee
as the man he arrested, he said,
''There, that Chinese,''
pointing at Chol Soo Lee in the defense table.
Calling a Korean a Chinese.
Anybody who has a smattering of understanding of Asian culture
would find it very unreal.
GANGLAND KILLINGS: NO END SEEN
One of the Chinese youths had a gun
and fired several shots into another Chinese youth.
Ng, in his 60s, was killed in the front room of the school
by an Oriental youth in his early teens.
Killings in Chinatown are involving
awfully young individuals.
There's been gangland style murders,
bodies dumped in the bay
where they had been strangled and bound.
Killings on the street.
The specter of gangs have frightened some merchants
to close early at night.
Grant Avenue seems empty of natives or tourists.
San Francisco Chinatown is a tourist town,
and there have been a dozen unsolved murders.
And Mayor Alioto was really getting pressure on the police.
There's always going to be priorities,
and right now I say the priority is Chinatown.
It didn't take a genius to find out what went wrong.
Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, they all look alike.
These things put the impact on this street boy,
who had no pressure groups, no defense groups.
He was completely alone.
How does an Asian prisoner exist, or
handle or survive a prison, say like DVI,
which is run by prison gangs?
So for Asians within a prison system,
their survival depends more on
to avoid aggression rather than to take action.
But not to be fearful of using aggression if it's necessary.
Two gangs were fighting over who ran the poker games.
I was friendly with both.
But the white gang didn't like that
I associated with the Mexican gang.
I refused to choose sides.
And soon I learned that
the whites were gonna come after me.
OCTOBER 8, 1977
In the world of prison,
there is a code of conduct that is totally different
from normal society.
The convicts' code is clear-cut.
Reputation is everything in prison.
Any sign of disrespect could lead to violence.
This code may seem like madness.
I can't even find the words to explain it so that you,
who live in free society, could understand my position.
All I knew was that in order to survive in this world,
I had to follow the convict's code.
If I hadn't,
I'd be dead.
Inmate Chol Soo Lee is charged with murder
in the stabbing death of a fellow prisoner.
Chol Soo Lee killed a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.
But no matter what,
where the knife came from, who had it first,
what you were wearing or what you ate for breakfast...
The fact that you were in that position to be in prison
all that time for something you didn't even do?
All of that,
everything you do is self-defense.
A detective told me I was charged
with first-degree murder.
It sent chills throughout my mind.
Until that moment,
I didn't even know that the man I fought was dead.
And because of my prior murder conviction,
I would now face the death penalty.
I was shitting my pants.
Because I was ready to do a story on Chol Soo Lee.
Then, bang, he was charged with a second murder!
Now, the picture has changed.
That's when I had to see him.
''Dear Chol Soo Lee:''
''My name is Kyung Won Lee.''
''I want to write about the problems''
''you have run into in America.''
''Dear Mr. Kyung Won Lee:''
''I want to thank you very much for''
''the thoughtful words I read in your letter.''
''Please understand my experience is not a happy story.''
''I would very much wish to talk with you.''
When I found myself in a prison,
that's where I find a lonely Korean down there.
I am the only Korean reporter in the mainstream media.
I also felt so alone myself.
So when I look at Chol Soo Lee, I feel like I met an old friend.
What a good-looking kid.
Really good-looking kid.
He was in a living hell.
But he had some innate friendliness.
He had that smile.
So we established some kind of telepathy.
After all these years,
I finally had the chance to say,
''I'm innocent.''
He single-handedly gave me hope when there was no hope.
I was born out of wedlock during the Korean War.
And sadly for my mother,
she was disinherited from her family,
so she married an American soldier and left for America.
And my uncle and auntie kept me, to raise me in Korea.
It was just after the war,
and we had fallen on hard times.
We would pick up scrap metal to try and get by.
We didn't eat sometimes for two or three days.
But when my auntie found a bowl of rice,
you know who she gave it to?
One small bowl for me,
and one small bowl for her youngest son.
They were very, very kind people.
I called my auntie and uncle ''mother'' and ''father,''
and they treated me like their own son.
Years later, my mother had separated from her husband
and came back to Korea.
''This is my son,'' she said,
''and I'm going to take him to America.''
Ladies and gentlemen,
your flight attendants...
I arrived in San Francisco on November 14, 1964,
at the age of 12.
My mother showed me her apartment,
which had a kitchen with a gas burning stove,
a bathtub with cold and hot water.
I thought,
''How rich my mother must be to have such great luxuries.''
But I had a lot of difficulty with English.
The school was mostly geared toward Chinese immigrants,
and there were no Korean teachers or counselors.
One day another student started a fight with me.
They took me to the principal's office.
But I couldn't explain that it wasn't my fault,
so I had a tantrum.
I kicked the principal, and they charged me with battery.
SAN FRANCISCO JUVENILE HALL
When I first went to juvenile hall,
I guess I was thinking in Korean that I'm a bad boy now.
Started smoking cigarettes,
trying to act tough and all that.
If you go to jail,
you must be a bad person, you know?
One time I was so frustrated to be in juvenile hall
that I put a towel around my neck.
And the counselor thought
I was going to try to commit suicide.
It was not a real suicide.
I was just trying to get attention
to get out of juvenile hall.
So they sent me to the psychiatric ward.
They gave me a handful of medication every day.
But I refused to take it,
so they started forcing me and gave me shots.
I was at the psychiatric hospital for three months,
but they released me when they realized I wasn't crazy.
I just couldn't speak English.
This young boy was condemned as insane.
There were no support systems,
no counselors, no school teachers.
Nobody, absolutely he was on his own.
The criminal justice system
had no incentive to really find out
about this boy and his cultural and language background.
Back home, my mother was working two jobs,
at the cannery and as a cocktail waitress.
And when she was home,
sometimes she'd beat me.
So I started running away.
One time, I made it all the way to the ocean.
Maybe I just wanted to go back to Korea.
I still don't know why my mother brought me here.
It was just by the grace of God
I have eluded the fate that fell on him.
Because there's a very thin line between him and me.
MOST OF HIS AMERICAN LIFE SPENT IN CONFINEMENT AS A LONE KOREAN
I was lucky.
He was not lucky.
There are an awful lot of unlucky people.
Especially Asians.
They have no language. They couldn't tell their story.
A MISPLACED PERSON'S SAGA AS STRANGE AS THE KAFKA-LIKE CHARACTER IN ''THE TRIAL''
The institutions, the media,
and law enforcement, the judicial system
have continued to remain ignorant and insensitive.
And that's why I felt, you know, it was my calling
to make some small dent
in that wall of ignorance and insensitivity.
LOST IN A STRANGE CULTURE
Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
That has been the tradition of print journalism.
It happened in America, but only in America...
We can right this wrong.
ALICE-IN-CHINATOWN MURDER CASE
My roommate, Dave Kakishiba, and I were going to Berkeley.
And we saw ourselves as activists.
18, 19 years old, you're taking Asian American Studies classes.
You're talking about oppression, yeah so,
I guess I fit the bill.
We came across a newspaper article,
and it said something about ''Alice in Chinatown.''
And we both said,
''Hey, it sounds like this man is innocent.''
So we went to the Sacramento Union office
and met K.W. Lee.
There were papers everywhere,
and he had stuff all over the walls.
And he just spent a couple of hours just running down
all the details about the case.
We were pretty inspired by his controlled rage,
if you will.
We asked him, what can we do?
And so he gave us the names of some of the activists
who had started a defense committee.
I was just fresh out from law school.
My favorite subject is criminal procedure.
And I went to the prison, to Chol Soo Lee.
And I just asked him, ''Tell me about your life.''
He says he was born during the Korean War.
His birthday is August 15. That's Korean Independence Day.
His name is Chol Soo, the most popular Korean name.
He must be some man who has all the sad history of Korea.
K.W. Lee, Grace Kim and I
decided to form a defense committee
and help Chol Soo Lee out.
FREE CHOL SOO LEE!
At that time, Korean churches were the organizing force
in the Korean community.
That's really where the Chol Soo Lee movement started.
Me and Jay Yoo always went to the Korean churches together.
So we told them what's going on now.
Chol Soo's plight is a tragedy, and we must free him.
He could be an excellent young leader.
Brothers and sisters, we must save him.
Thank you.
They all made special donation.
This is definitely a Korean immigrant body
that is coming together in Sacramento.
And I'm willing to jump on anybody's bandwagon!
And then, in the Bay Area, we were at every community fair,
either getting signatures or having people sign up,
or just talking about his case.
So, ''Free Chol Soo Lee,'' people come up, they want one.
Because they're free.
They thought we were giving away some free food.
We sold hot links.
We did fundraising dances.
All those young people said, ''We're going to do fundraising!''
What they did was a dance party,
a concert...
So it costs lots of money.
So we gave them...
But they could not raise any money!
They spent all our money!
I had written a poem about the Chol Soo Lee case.
And I said, ''Why don't we make this into a song?''
''We can get the song on the radio,''
''and people will find out about the case!''
SET CHOL SOO FREE
FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY RIGHTS
FIGHT FOR EQUALITY
NO DEATH PENALTY FOR CHOL SOO LEE
A shot rang out in the alley A man was lying cold dead
Witnesses -three out-of-town tourists barely recollected
He kind of looked like this one but they look alike you see
Cops in a hurry want to close the case so they handcuffed Chol Soo Lee
Many times I asked myself:
''Why are so many people, total strangers to me,''
''working so hard to get me out of prison?''
And that kind of boggled my mind.
I didn't know why they did it.
I was just a prisoner,
and something like that never happened in my life.
I took this support in a very personal way.
And I would not understand until many years later
the enormity of what I'd become in the eyes of these people.
I had become a cause.
A symbol.
Chol Soo Lee...
His name has been synonymous within the Korean community
with the fight against injustice and discrimination.
We needed materials to walk around in the community
and tell his story.
And it was so hard to just explain it,
word for word, what was going in his case.
So I made this little slide show.
The struggle for Chol Soo's freedom is also a struggle
of an entire people.
It is a fight for our own freedom.
Do you know about Chol Soo Lee's case?
Yes, of course.
First of all, I know it was not a fair trial.
As a fellow Korean, I want him to get a fair trial,
so I'm following it.
The broader Asian communities and the public at large
have also joined in the struggle.
Demonstrations, hundreds of people were always there.
Court hearings, hundreds of people were there.
The Chol Soo Lee movement had a life of its own.
People of different nationalities came together.
The first, second and third generations worked together,
and it gave us resolve.
Blue jeans and Korean dresses getting together.
NO DEATH PENALTY
CHOL SOO IS INNOCENT
It may be one of the first times that
so many different people united around one single issue.
How do you feel about this community support?
I feel very good that so many Korean people
and all different class of people could relate to me.
My deepest sincerest thanks to everyone
that give me their support and the time.
And hopefully that I could relate to them as well.
And the support they are giving me,
that they would do, maybe,
for other Chol Soo Lees possibly in the streets,
- running loose now. - Not just yourself.
I received a number of visitors.
I tried to smile and relate to them as best as I could.
But it wasn't always easy.
A convict may have his own personal integrity
and humanity burning within him.
But then it's a struggle to hold onto them.
His own survival must guide his actions,
as he is slowly institutionalized, transformed.
I never discussed these feelings with my supporters.
Seeing the movement's good will,
I didn't want to bring dark clouds over them.
We have in our studio this morning, Leonard Weinglass,
who's famous for being the counsel in the
Chicago Seven conspiracy trial.
He defended Angela Davis.
Mr. Weinglass, what is it that
interested you in the Chol Soo Lee case?
When the Korean community came to me
and brought me the records of the Chol Soo Lee case,
I became convinced that his was a case of an injustice.
This is Josiah Thompson
in the case of The People vs. Chol Soo Lee.
This happened in the middle of Chinatown.
There must have been 30, 40 Asian people around.
Not one was ever interviewed by the police.
Not one ever testified at trial.
All you had testifying at trial, they were all Anglos.
I hit up everybody I knew, looking for witnesses.
And Tink couldn't do that.
You really couldn't have a white investigator do that.
But I could.
Ranko had this witness, Mr. X.
I know for a fact that it wasn't Chol Soo.
MURDER WITNESS STEPS FORWARD
Prior to the shooting living in Chinatown,
I've seen Chol Soo and I've seen this other person.
Witness X saw the killer throw away the gun...
And he was not willing to testify in open court.
Why?
Because he'd be killed.
It's too frightening.
Too frightening for me...
for me to risk, you know, my family's lives.
It was such a brutal public murder.
You never get witnesses from the community
from that kind of shooting.
Chinatown residents are most hesitant to talk about
what they've seen, what they've heard,
or even what they think.
But then some clerk had made a mistake
and had turned over a bunch of court papers.
Those papers contained some new things.
Something about this ''Steve'' and ''Point Richmond.''
And so I went to Point Richmond.
And we asked around and finally
we got the name ''Morris'' to connect with the ''Steve.''
And when we finally reached him in Los Angeles, he astonished us
by telling us that he was only 12 feet away
at the time of the killing.
A percipient witness closer than any other witness to the case,
had been known to the police,
and his very existence had not been revealed to the defense.
I'd read something about hypnosis,
and how hypnosis would bring back details,
of particular memories.
So the doctor starts with this kind of sing-song tone,
and counts down from 15.
And wow!
I still remember that as unbelievable.
Steve says,
''I can see a lion.''
That lion was part of this giant mural
that you encounter as you drive into Chinatown.
So then he says, ''I was standing outside the Ping Yuen Bakery.''
INVESTIGATOR'S RE-ENACTMENT
''Then I saw that Asian guy fire the first shot.''
''Hit the victim in the chest.''
''And then he spun around,''
''and the killer put a bullet in the back of his head.''
The autopsy report showed that he was shot in the chest,
just above the right nipple.
The press reports, they're all wrong!
TWICE IN THE BACK
He saw it the way it really happened,
not like everybody else who's just reading the newspaper.
That establishes his bonafides!
So I brought Morris up, put him in the courtroom,
turned on the tape recorder.
And I said, ''Steve, you've just seen Chol Soo Lee.''
''Was Chol Soo Lee the person you saw kill''
''Yip Yee Tak in front of your eyes?''
No, he wasn't.
He said, ''No, he's too little.''
I'm positive.
“And he's beautiful.
''The killer was kind of ugly.''
''Thank you, Steve.''
I turned off the tape recorder, and we've got it.
NEW WITNESS SAYS IT WASN'T LEE
Judge Lawrence Karlton declares
the Chinatown conviction invalid.
NEW TRIAL ORDERED IN CHINATOWN KILLING
But the joy was short-lived.
San Francisco prosecutors immediately appealed.
I remained in prison
as I awaited my murder trial in the prison-yard case.
But this was a happy time for me.
So many supporters came to my hearings.
And I felt like I had gone on vacation
from the violent, lonely world of prison.
''My dear Chol Soo:''
''I have sent a package of reading books.''
''Also, can we send you a jar of kimchi?''
''Even an animal in a zoo is entitled to some favorite food.''
''Dear Mr. Kyung Won:''
''I would much love to eat some kimchi as well as some''
''other Korean food with some rice that is cooked right,''
''but I don't think people here would permit it.''
''Thank you for the books I also received earlier today.''
''With each letter I receive from you, I find my spirits rising.''
''Chol Soo:''
''You represent a tiny people with a sad but heroic history.''
''You are not just yourself. You represent us all.''
For the ones that took the time to go and meet Chol Soo, wow.
That kind of personal contact made such a difference.
I started corresponding,
and was just so moved by him responding,
writing his handwritten letters.
And his script was just beautiful.
His Korean, I think, is kind of street Korean,
like his English is street English.
So I think it's kind of cute. I thought it was very charming.
Yeah, he had his own way of talking.
He made smoking cigarettes look cool.
I believed in him as a person, I believed in him as a leader.
It was hard to believe that, not long ago,
I used to hope so much
for a single letter from my mother or from Ranko.
And when the guards would walk down the tier,
handing out mail,
I would wait with anticipation.
During these times,
there would be total silence in the whole prison.
This silence...
was the same in every prison.
But now, here I was,
staying up late,
just to respond to all letters from across the country,
and even South Korea.
They saw me, and called me by my name.
They said, ''Chol Soo, don't give up.''
''We're fighting with you.''
The Chol Soo Lee Defense committee is
a broad-based organization
made up of Koreans and other Asian Americans.
We have defense committees active from New York to L.A.,
WE WANT A FAIR TRIAL
in both Korea and Japan.
We're all unified around a common goal,
which is to free Chol Soo Lee.
SET CHOL SOO FREE
UNITE TO FREE CHOL SOO LEE
And Chol Soo's mother,
she entered in the support movement more reluctantly.
She probably thought that her son was just
an unrepentant criminal.
And it took a process to draw her out to support
her own son in this movement.
And then she came out like a storm.
Why is innocent boy locked up? Taxpayers' wasted money,
they lock him up.
If my son's guilty,
I'm not going to defend my son.
If he's guilty, he has to deserve.
But he's innocent.
Yes, I believe he's innocent.
This is the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison.
Chol Soo Lee may be the first Korean in the United States
to die here.
It's painted in this weird sort of chartreuse color.
A hockey puck of cyanide is dropped into a tub of acid,
and cyanide fumes are given off.
If you breathe cyanide, you die.
AFTER 6 YEARS IN PRISON
THE TRIAL FOR THE PRISON-YARD KILLING BEGINS IN STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.
These people feel Chol Soo Lee is not getting
a fair shake within the justice system.
It was at Deuel Vocational Institution
where Lee killed another prisoner.
We really want to show the people, the judge,
the court system, the prison system,
that we're continued and determined to fight!
Stockton was a pretty white place.
All of a sudden, all these people come.
I think they were kind of blown away.
It's important to show support whenever there's a trial.
The jury and the judge can see the Korean community,
they are ready to accept this man,
and feel that they can return him to the community.
Depending on what happens,
it could be anywhere from a death sentence for Chol Soo,
all the way to immediate release back to the community.
So everything hangs in the balance.
Chol's a young Asian, was caught literally in the cross-fire
of gang warfare, which was racial warfare.
It's a classic case of self-defense.
Coming down to self-survival,
there's no place to run within the prison system.
Judge Papas was very antagonistic.
And he resented the presence of people supporting Chol Soo.
I have seen very few Caucasians in this room, very frankly.
You see Caucasians in the jury box. I'm afraid that's where it matters.
When I went out to the courtroom
and look at all the jury members,
and the faces I seen was the same kind of faces
I've seen in Sacramento in 1974.
The panel of jurors.
And at that time, I informed my attorney that
I felt this whole case is gonna be another mockery of justice.
The jury found Lee guilty of first-degree murder
and sentenced him to die in the gas chamber.
The judge came down and ruled the death penalty for Chol Soo.
We're not finished, we're going to keep on fighting.
- Freedom for Chol Soo Lee! - Freedom for Chol Soo Lee!
Leonard, what's to be gained from all the support? Anything?
You make it sound contrived.
These people came because they wanted to come,
so they're doing it because they feel it's right.
MOTHER OF CHOL SOO LEE
CALIFORNIA STATE PRISON SAN QUENTIN
CONDEMNED ROW
First of all,
it's hard for me to comprehend that I am on death row
for a crime I did not commit.
It almost feels like sometimes you're dying
just each day as you live, but...
This experience of working with the people on outside has been
one of the most tremendous and beautiful experiences
of my life.
The poor man cannot expect
to get justice by himself,
but he needs people to...
to try and get justice.
That's it.
During my years on death row,
the State of California did not execute anyone.
But two men committed suicide.
I came to realize that the system was designed so that
the condemned man would kill himself,
before his execution.
By making him go through his depression alone.
And he might save the system time and effort
by taking his own life.
Every convict on death row
thought about taking his own life.
But I never burdened people on the outside
with such dark thoughts.
Instead,
I always expressed my gratitude
and encouraged them not to give up,
because this would be a long fight.
I would be on death row for three more years
before my retrial started.
AFTER 9 YEARS IN PRISON
LEE HOPES TO ESCAPE DEATH ROW IN RETRIAL
What has these past 9 years been like for you in prison?
I think...
This is a very difficult question.
What has happened over 9 years?
What has it been like?
I think in a sense that...
I feel very bitter that I've been in prison all this time
for a murder I did not commit.
But at the same time, I'm very grateful
that my case has become an educational experience
for the Asian community.
My time that I've spent in prison is not going to waste,
but is working in a positive sense to educate Asian people
that we can work together when we want to.
I had become an attorney by that time
and I joined the legal team.
And we retained Tony Serra and Stuart Hanlon.
I was worried.
I think I didn't meet Tony Serra until almost trial time.
This man, who does not look like your image of a lawyer...
I didn't know how he would get on board
if he had not been to these meetings.
And then he appears!
It's like fiction.
When I go into court, I'll look at the jury.
I won't say a word and they're starting to wonder.
Then I'd clap.
I call that the ''zen slap''
because it'll change their focus.
They've just heard a different argument.
That kind of cleanses them,
it opens their mind, it purifies them.
We started opening arguments by taking a picture of a mug book.
The San Francisco Police Department
had a book back in 1973
called the ''Chinatown Gang Mug Book.''
And the cover of the book had a cartoon that was a cross
in my mind between a Fu Manchu character
and a Ho Chi Minh character.
A total racist caricature.
And we argued to the jury this case started
in this kind of racism.
What that picture says to these white witnesses,
''It's only an Asian, it's only a chink.''
The killing occurred
on the corner of Grant and Pacific
on a crowded Sunday in Chinatown.
The killer went east on Pacific Street.
He threw his gun down the alley.
And they find out that Chol Soo Lee had been involved
in a gun going off in his hotel room incident
two days earlier.
The police ran a ballistics check.
And lo and behold, the gun that fired the murder bullets
also fired the bullet found in that hotel room.
Okay, if that's true, Chol Soo Lee is guilty.
But the class characteristics of the two bullets were different.
Class characteristics have to do with the lands and grooves
that are carved into the bullet
by its passage through the barrel.
The class characteristics didn't match.
That's enough to throw out the test right there.
You don't have to go any further.
Now whether he did it on purpose,
whether he did it 'cause he's sloppy,
whether he did it because they had to get somebody,
none of us ever knows.
We were aware of that error early in the investigation.
And that error was made known in discovery
to defense counsel way before the first trial.
But the key was that that locked the police into Chol Soo Lee.
Once they realized in their mind that
his gun had killed this person,
they didn't care about anybody else.
They assumed he was guilty.
I saw how they had gone off in the wrong direction
because of the ballistics.
I saw that their eyewitnesses were very fallible,
very easy to discredit.
The main prosecution witnesses, Lennon and Mill...
were at this corner, 45 feet away from the shooting.
One factor that never came out in the first trial:
Dave Lennon in 1969 happened to be a guard
at Youth Guidance Center in San Francisco.
There was a 17-year-old Asian kid
who was the only Asian kid when Lennon was there.
It so happened that Asian kid was Chol Soo Lee.
And it so happened the picture that David Lennon picked out
the night of the killing, as a possible suspect,
was a picture taken in 1969.
As soon as that was brought to his attention,
he backed off his ID, and he didn't remember that
he had seen him and interacted with him at a past time.
So there went Witness No. 1.
Witness No. 2 was Andy Mill.
He was a world-class skier.
At that point, he was 20 years old.
He thought he was the greatest thing in the world.
And he was so sure
that his initial description of the killer had to be right.
It's a guy with no mustache who's 5-10 who
I saw for a second and a half from 45 feet away.
He identified a person that in no way could be Chol Soo Lee.
Chol Soo Lee is short, he was 5-2.
They identified a person who was 5-10.
Their witnesses were white tourists
that were diagonally across the street.
This was a classic case,
it's called cross-racial identification.
You don't distinguish facial features of other racial groups.
But we finally got an Asian witness
who'd been at the scene to come forward and testify.
After the shooting, the killer went east on Pacific Street.
We ended up approximately here in Beckett Alley.
Stephen Low was walking up the street,
and the killer went right past him here,
at the corner of Beckett Alley.
Low was really the closest witness.
STEPHEN LOW KILLER
He said, ''I was there.''
''I didn't go to the police because I was afraid.''
''And I'm willing to come forward now 'cause''
''I'm separated from the Chinatown scene.''
Stephen Low was a key witness
'cause he was the only Asian eyewitness
who would say, ''I know it isn't this man.''
It was an easy case to see transparently
that they had the wrong person.
If the system really was honest,
they would have just dumped the case instead of trying
a second time to convict an innocent person.
And that really is the heart of the outrage.
GANG MURDER RETRIAL GOES TO JURY
SEPTEMBER 3, 1982
We were waiting and pacing outside,
and one of my friends had gone to Jack in the Box.
I just happened to be there.
And so I went into court when they said they had a verdict.
So the courtroom fills up,
but we have to wait 20 minutes to have about
30 armed sheriffs brought down
because the judge is really afraid that,
if it's a guilty verdict, there's going to be
pandemonium in the court.
So they rise. It's very formal.
And everything is very quiet.
If the jury looks at you, that's good.
If the jury comes out and won't look at you,
that's horrible!
I didn't know who was going to win.
I warned my people,
''Even if we win, don't shout loud. Be quiet.''
The judge said, ''Do you have a verdict?''
And the jury foreman says, ''Yes.''
And they give it to this clerk.
She reads the verdict form,
which seemed like it took forever.
''People of the state of California,''
''Superior Court of San Francisco,''
''People vs. Chol Soo Lee, case number blah blah blah...''
And then it goes to the part, ''We the jury find the defendant''
And she stops.
I only remember hearing the words...
''Not.''
Yeah!
We won!
Won!
We won!
I can't control myself.
Innocent until proven guilty and reasonable doubt.
And we discussed that and brought it up, and used it,
and tried to keep it in our minds.
Well, after almost five years on the scene,
I just feel very numb.
But I am exhilarated,
obviously.
This is the outcome that any reporter would be proud of.
You have just achieved the impossible.
People just jump up and yell!
It's chaos in the courtroom.
It was so thrilling.
''MY VICTORY IS YOURS''
When he was acquitted, he wanted us to know
that the case was more than just about him.
Chol addressed everybody in the court
and said what was really obvious,
that this was a victory for the Asian community
and not just for him.
And he says, ''Thank you.''
He thanks everyone.
Then his arm goes out right under my nose.
He pointed at the prosecutor,
started screaming at him,
''You knew all along I was innocent!''
''You know you're at fault!''
Oh boy, I forget his exact words but
they were loud and they were accusatory.
So far none of them has admitted that...
the wrongful imprisonment of these years.
Not the police department, not the prosecutor.
I think for me to feel a little bit of justice out of this line,
that the people responsible for putting me in this prison
admit to their wrongdoing.
I just hope and pray
that the Korean community and the Oriental people
that have come out in his support and believe in him,
will support him once he is released
and hopefully lead him in the right direction this time.
Your story is definitely public outcry.
How do you feel about being a cause or a symbol?
For too long a time, I think Asians have been subjected to
racial injustice in the history of America and...
I think this time, the Asian community came forth and said,
''Enough is enough.''
MARCH 28, 1983
Moments before he walked into freedom,
he felt that he couldn't live up to the Chol Soo Lee
that people expected.
VOICE OF STUART HANLON
I remember standing up with him, going to the door,
and saying, ''Well, let's go find out.''
Stuart told me,
''There are a lot of news media people waiting for you.''
''If you're not ready to face them,''
''we can go out through the back door.''
And I told him,
''No...''
''I will walk through the front door.''
Chol Soo Lee, can we talk to you for a minute?
It's been 10 years, how do you feel today?
I feel very great and very thankful
for all of the support people have given me,
especially to Mr. Jay Kun Yoo out of Sacramento,
and I'm very grateful for the support and trust
that people have given me to free me on this day today.
Hi, Chol Soo!
Oh, that's wonderful, that's wonderful!
I told him, ''This is your life.''
''This is just your life. It's not charmed.''
''It's not burdened. It's not cursed.''
''This is the life you get to have.''
And that's...
You know, it's a big deal.
Can you make ''V'' sign for us?
By the way, Chol Soo, how old are you now?
- I'm 50 years old. - I'll be damned.
And I've been out of prison for 20 years, almost...
- Now. - I'll be damned.
Time flies fast, isn't it?
And when you look back...
You were in prison, how many years total?
- 10 years. - Yeah, 10 years.
When you came out, was it really difficult in many ways?
- Yes, it was because... - Why?
Nobody told me that I was this famous guy.
He went on, like a tour,
like a celebrity.
All these people recognize me.
These young girls were coming up asking for autographs.
We went to Hawaii with Chol Soo.
We met Hawaiian supporters there.
Everyone welcomed us and it was joyous.
He was asked to go to a jazz festival event.
You know, so they're playing their jazz thing, right?
Chol Soo said, ''This is worse than being in prison.''
''We got to go, get me out of here.''
So, you know, that's hard work. He had to do things like that.
5 MONTHS AFTER RELEASE
PROSECUTORS OFFER CHOL SOO A PLEA DEAL IN THE PRISON-YARD CASE.
And they said, to remain free, let us compromise...
Plead guilty to second-degree murder,
and there'd be no probation, no parole.
It'd be unconditional.
So I plead guilty instead of facing another challenge
in the legal system.
Lee acted in self-defense. He never should have been there.
And this is the clearest example of the system not working
'cause what it took was 10 years in prison,
an entire community of people
fighting years and years, going through many courts,
getting the best lawyers in our country to fight for him.
That's what it took to get him out.
THE MULTI-SERVICES CENTER FOR KOREANS
Multi-Service Center for Koreans, may I help you?
These days,
Chol Soo Lee can be found in a conventional work setting.
As a staff member of the Multi-Service Center
for Koreans in San Francisco,
he continues to keep his ties with the Asian community.
During the weekends, I usually try to visit senior citizens
to show my respect and thanks to them.
I feel real great to see them and thank them in person
and to receive their warm welcome.
Just type your name. Just as if you were typing.
See now, when you write this, I can tell
where your English is bad.
Keep pushing until you've erased what you don't want, see?
I got him a job as a salesman at a computer retailer.
It went well for a few months, but then he quit.
I asked the boss why he quit.
He said he overslept
and couldn't show up on time in the morning.
There was a movie that was made...
James Woods with a ponytail,
that was supposed to be Tony Serra.
They really portrayed the community as sort of props.
Ah, it looks like you've become a symbol for your community.
May I get a ride with you guys?
Go ahead, Shu.
Be important.
I was so furious.
This victory came about because of a grassroots movement.
So many, many people were involved.
We went to UC Berkeley.
I had a couple of Defense Committee people with me.
They asked me to go up and say something.
I never been in front of nobody to speak, anything like that.
So what should I say?
They said just go up there, tell 'em to be good and
that's it.
I went up there... ''Well'',
''Do good, study hard, thank you.''
I'm walking back and all the students
looking at me, what an idiot!
After all the fanfare, another friend,
who was also in the Defense Committee,
was able to get him a job as a janitor.
But for Chol Soo,
going from being this leader of a movement
to suddenly being told to clean offices up.
It was hard for him.
I think I was very, very lonely.
Whenever I go out with people, I have a good time.
But after it's over...
I'm by myself, you know, like I'm back in prison.
I think that there were a few people trying
to give him advice.
He's got to live the square life.
He owes that to the community.
You're gonna really disappoint a lot of people,
if you fuck up.
He was really, really struggling.
He felt there was this huge expectation from the community
about how he should be after he got out.
And he wanted to be that.
But then he also had all these demons.
When I came out of prison, I think it was the expectation
that I could be successful in life,
lead a normal life,
which was difficult,
especially when you have been in prison for 10 years,
spending 4 years of that on death row.
It's difficult to come out here, to say, ''I'm normal.''
He also wanted to party.
That was a little uncomfortable for me.
I mean I get it, and at the same time,
I'm not sure that we should be enabling him to do that.
He wanted some kind of relief.
He wanted drugs. He wanted liquor.
And when you give that person drugs,
and people unfortunately did
because they thought they were being his friend,
you end up with a drug addict.
Drugs was everywhere. The cocaine.
I started smoking it, I was smoking
sometimes a quarter ounce to half ounce a day.
That was impossible for any person to live.
Use that much cocaine.
I don't know how my body could tolerate that much drugs.
And it got worse and worse...
And I was back on the streets.
He comes to our law office, and he begs for money.
And I said, ''No, it's not right.''
Why didn't you do anything before you ran out of money?
He should have worked.
You have to work.
Don't try to depend on somebody.
He came over one day, and he was yelling at me.
He needed money, he needed a connection to get drugs,
he needed cocaine. He couldn't continue like this,
I owed it to him.
He went on and on and on,
and he punched the wall, and then he pulled a knife.
And he started moving towards me.
I pulled a gun and I said,
''You have to put the knife down and leave.''
One night he scares me, he comes banging on the door
because he wants money.
So I had some rolled quarters and a change jar.
And I gave that to him and I said,
''Don't ever come back here...''
''uninvited again.''
She warned me about Chol Soo, deep into drugs.
I was acting almost as his father.
And he really felt guilty about what he was doing.
And I think he was trying to avoid me at that time.
I went back to prison in 1990,
and did 18 months on a drug possession charge.
I came back to San Francisco in July of 1991.
I had a pretty solid reputation
from being in prison and stuff like that.
So I started getting involved with
some of the Chinatown gangs.
For the first time in my life.
CHOL SOO LEE SEVERELY BURNED IN HOUSE FIRE
I had direct orders to do the arson for this house.
What happened was that...
I slipped on the floor and
all the gasoline that was there soaked all onto my clothes.
I don't know what set the fire, but
I saw myself burning and everything around me burning.
I was thinking to myself,
you got maybe another 10, 15 seconds,
and I don't think you're gonna make it after that.
I forced the door open, and got myself out of there.
First thing I did, I rolled over,
put out any fire that may still be in me.
After that, everything just went black.
During that first month or so, there was nothing but pain.
A pain beyond endurance.
And I remember that I had to scream out loud.
If there ever is hell,
then I know what type of pain that
could be inflicted upon a person.
Wish I had not survived.
FEDERAL PRISON ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA
''My dear Chol Soo:''
''I want you to fill this aching gap for me.''
''There's much confusion, disappointment and suspicion''
''among those who have supported our cause.''
''They want to know what happened and why.''
''Those of us who have been by your side''
''through all these years''
''are bound together for better or worse,''
''if our fleeting existence on earth''
''has any meaning at all.''
CHOL SOO AGREES TO TESTIFY AGAINST THE GANG THAT HIRED HIM FOR THE ARSON.
THEN HE ENTERS FEDERAL WITNESS PROTECTION.
12 YEARS AFTER THE ARSON
How have you been living?
I worked as a janitor. I worked as a car salesman.
How was it?
- That was pretty tough, I... - Yeah, I know.
You are not a salesman type.
No, but I think a lot of the sales people
got very scared of me, you know?
This guy is too mean-looking now, you know?
Why can't they do something with your face?
My doctor said they would do a face transplant.
You know, from a dead person's face?
I told them, no.
This is the face I got.
I die with it, I die with it.
When you run away the first time,
what was the reason why you run away?
It was my mother.
She beat me every time she had a chance.
- Why? - I don't know, I don't...
Ask Doris. She'd tell you.
She could tell you.
Chol Soo's mom talked about her birth dream.
Birth dream?
During pregnancy, a woman has a dream.
Chol Soo's mom said
in her dream, a snake chased her.
She kept running away from it, but it caught her and bit her.
It bit her, and even though she chopped it up with a knife,
it wouldn't let her go.
She told me Chol Soo's last name is Song.
- Song. His father. - His father.
She said she was raped by Mr. Song.
Because he was a child born of rape, she really hated him.
Mrs. Lee, was Chol Soo really a bad boy?
No...
He's a kind little boy.
- He's a kind boy? - Yes.
Why did I come here?
First, I come here,
I like to give him the best education
in the whole world...
Because I don't have any education in my life, you know.
But some people saying things...
You cannot even write what I heard sometime.
My sisters, brother.
So it hurt my insides.
That's why for my son I want to give him education.
That's why I married an American man.
That's why I bring him.
Then, pretty hard for his life, my life.
When I was in prison,
when I was charged with the death penalty,
the prison murder,
I wrote to my mom, and she wrote back,
''You don't cause us nothing but trouble.''
Then they don't want to hear from me anymore.
- Gosh. - Coming from my mother.
And...
That's when you came into my life.
You, Peggy,
Ranko, David Kakishiba...
Like those are the real heroes.
Not me. You guys are.
Listen, you know, listen, damnit!
Listen to me, young man.
Somebody up there gave you a reason to live, goddamnit!
So when did you come back?
About two weeks ago.
I'm not in the protection program no more.
So that means you're a free man?
Yes.
Getting older, I regret
so much of the pain that I have put through other people.
I became a disappointment and disgrace.
Chol, you've been really trying to keep a low profile.
How has this fire accident changed you, changed the way
you think about life, if at all?
You've been through so much.
I think...
If you examine my life from date of my birth,
you're examining a person, who's been in
enormous amount of pain
that he never asked for to be.
But...
through meeting people like Mr. K.W. Lee
and through receiving support
from so many numerous other people,
out of depths of the pain of somebody else,
humanity, it grows,
and that humanity is given to you,
pure and unconditionally.
You feel you owe K.W. Lee your life?
I feel I owe him more than that. Not just my life.
You reflect back on me,
you're not just some guy off the street,
not just some prisoner,
but you're a Korean American, an immigrant,
whose rights been so violated, and that needs to be corrected.
I would give anything for Mr. K.W. Lee, I think that...
Mr. K.W. has given me life.
And he has given me a conscience.
And allowed me to have humanity to give to others,
when they are in pain.
Chol, thank you so much.
Thank you.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS FEBRUARY 22, 2006
Chol Soo Lee is an ex-death row inmate.
This is his first public speaking engagement
since his release from prison.
JUSTICE FOR CHOL SOO LEE
I feel very honored to be invited here today,
among all of these distinguished guests here.
I feel like a bit of a grain of sand
just trying to mix into life.
Thank you very much for your invitation.
I'd like to start with something Mr. Gandhi said.
He said:
''Evil, injustice, hatred exist only insofar as we support them.''
''They have no existence of their own''
''without our cooperation.''
The first time he came, he was very nervous
and he'd written out a speech.
It was very stiff and formal.
And he knew it.
And he just crumpled up the paper and said, ''Fuck it,''
and threw it to the ground and
then just started speaking from the heart.
The prison is evil.
It destroys every human dignity and humanity has in a person.
It destroys you.
It destroys your spirit, it destroys your mind.
And it has destroyed mine, and I'm trying to rebuild it.
I want to live a life that would enhance the life of others
as the defense committee and supporters have done for me,
that are continuing to still do for me today.
Maybe I get a little lost in the shuffle sometimes.
But I'm not a hero. I'm just a human being.
I'm so glad still you're alive!
Your appearance is different.
But you are more intelligent.
You are mature. You are loving.
And he's talking about taking care of other people.
Chol Soo saw me and he said,
''Mrs. Yoo, I'm doing so well. Are you proud of me now?''
I think Chol Soo returned from undiscovered country.
And he is with us.
And that is cause of celebration.
Somebody up there,
those departed, the ghosts of Chinese Americans,
Japanese, Filipinos and Koreans who built this country...
I think they are telling Chol Soo,
who was caged in San Quentin,
''Hey, Chol Soo, Chol Soo, keep alive for us.''
I don't know what was going on with him
in the last few months before he died.
But I do know that he was in a lot of pain.
I could tell by his voice.
The struggle to just
live and then the emotional and mental hole that he had.
Yeah, I think he was probably just getting tired.
He chose to die.
He was offered surgery for his intestinal problems.
But he said, ''I am going to die.''
He endured so many years.
I think he just run out of gas.
When I look back,
he died a hundred deaths in that goddamned living hell
called the California prison system!
And even in freedom, in the free world,
he suffered a thousand deaths!
Sixty-two years seems too young to die.
But Chol Soo lived so many lifetimes in those short years.
We benefited so much from his hardship.
The horror of his case honed
our politics and our consciousness.
His remarkable life
inspired our own.
I want the people to feel good about what they did for me.
I want the people who have helped me to be able to say,
''At least he has put his life together.''
Hopefully I can come back with my head high and
make them feel like, ''We did the right thing.''
Closed Captioning: Mistral Artist-New York