“I’ve been going back and forth to the courts for a year and a half since my dad died, because I believe in justice. I hope the remaining suspect is punished justly.”
Chaerin Lee has called for justice in the trial of her late father, Du Young Lee, who was fatally stabbed on October 1, 2022, during a struggle with two 17-year-olds who had broken into his wig shop in the Fashion District in Downtown LA and stole items.
In a recent phone call with the Korea Daily, she urged the court not to apply juvenile sentencing standards to one of the suspects facing sentencing.
“The prosecutors told me that the remaining suspect will likely be sentenced as a minor in juvenile court,” Lee said. “I asked the court to show them the justice of the law at every trial. I’m afraid that the remaining suspect will be sentenced to short years and be released again.” Currently, Lee is running her father’s wig shop.
In a related case, on December 5 last year, the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court sentenced one of the teenage suspects charged with voluntary manslaughter to five years in prison. The sentence reflected the suspect’s age of 17 at the time of the crime.
Lee and the Korean-American community have since expressed outrage, and the remaining suspect, who was also 17 at the time, is awaiting sentencing. The remaining suspect allegedly swung a weapon at the deceased, causing his death.
“The way things are going now, I don’t think they were willing to treat the suspects as adults in the first place,” Lee said, adding, “They gave me hope for a year and a half when I am the only one left.”
The LA County District Attorney’s Office said that the Juvenile Alternative Charging Evaluation (JACE) committee will review whether the suspects should be treated as adults or juveniles. The decision will be made after a hearing on March 14, prosecutors added.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM, HOONSIK WOO [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
