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John —

This month is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

And in recognition, we wanted to share some powerful stories from our partners in the Innocence Network of exonerees of Asian descent who are celebrating their freedom.

Like Frances Choy — a Boston College Innocence Program client [[link removed]] — who was wrongly arrested at just 17 for arson and murder after a tragic house fire that killed her parents. Frances was tried three times and eventually convicted, largely due to racial discrimination and official misconduct, and sentenced to life without parole in 2011.⁠

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It was later discovered that the prosecutors on her case exchanged racist and derogatory comments about Frances in emails, elicited false testimony from police, and withheld evidence that would have cleared her. This misconduct, as well as evidence that someone else confessed to the crime, led to Frances' exoneration last fall, making her Massachusetts' first Asian American exoneree.⁠

Or take Han Tak Lee’s story. He spent 24 years wrongly imprisoned for a 1989 fire that killed his daughter and was convicted based on fire science that has since evolved. He was exonerated in 2015 thanks to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project [[link removed]

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After his release, he told reporters that a lack of support from his community made rebuilding his life after decades of wrongful incarceration particularly challenging. Research shows the “model minority” myth — that portrays all Asians as successful — can all too often influence the communities' views of incarceration, making Asian exonerees more likely to lack community support after being freed.⁠

And there’s also the story of Koua Fong Lee, who was wrongly convicted after a car he was driving collided with another vehicle, killing three people. He always maintained that he had tried to stop the car by braking, but that the vehicle didn’t respond. Two years later, other Toyota drivers reported issues with sudden acceleration and lack of responsiveness. Toyota recalled millions of cars in response. The Great North Innocence Project [[link removed]] helped track down these drivers with similar experiences to free Mr. Koua Fong, and he was exonerated in 2010.



The voices of Asian exonerees and all those still incarcerated deserve to be heard, and here at the Innocence Project, we will continue to uplift them. If you haven’t already, please follow us on Instagram where we’re highlighting stories of AAPI exonerees this month.

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Thank you,

— The Innocence Project Team

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