Koreatown Murders 2003. Did DNA Lead to the Conviction of an
Jan 22, 2022 7:59:57 GMT
forca84 and CrepedCrusader like this
Post by hi224 on Jan 22, 2022 7:59:57 GMT
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mile_Murders
losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/01/29/dna-evidence-leads-to-killer-in-shocking-miracle-mile-triple-murder/
May 5, 2003, Byung Song, returned to his Koreatown, Los Angeles Apartment to find his wife Charis, his infant son Nathan and their nanny, Eun Suk shot to death in the bathroom. The investigation revealed that Chais died at least 30 minutes after the other two and she had been bound and gagged before she was killed. Charis had been out running errands earlier that morning and it has been speculated that the murderer had arrived before Chatis returned. The murderer may have gained entry to the apartment without force, killed the nanny and child and waited for Charis to return home. It is noteworthy that Charis was bound and gagged rather than killed as soon as she got home. There is the possibility that the killer was trying to get information from her. The only forensic evidence was some pieces of rubber believed to have come from household gloves, that contained DNA that could not be identified.
Initially, suspicion fell on the husband. He was a successful business owner in the garment industry. He was a bit of a philanderer but otherwise had a good reputation. He had a solid alibi and the DNA on the piece of rubber was not his. His Position as prime suspect was enhanced when LAPD received an anonymous letter claiming he had hired hit men from Korea to do the job and he had a girlfriend who was hiding out in New York. Police could not figure out who wrote the letter and the girlfriend was never identified. The case went cold.
8 years later, CODIS got a hit on the DNA. The DNA belonged to Robin Cho, a Korean immigrant whose only known connection to the Songs was that he has lived in the same apartment building at the the time of the murders and his parking slip was adjacent to the Song’s. No evidence was ever found that Cho knew the Songs or had any dealings with them. The reason Cho’s DNA “hit” when it did was that Cho had recently been convicted of a felony and, under California law, felons must have their DNA entered on the CODIS data base. The crime Cho had been convicted of was White Collar: Running a Ponzi scheme. What he had done was to attempt to operate an investment group without any legal status; something fairly common within the Korean community, and things went bad. He used new investments to pay off earlier investors who wanted out. Eventually it all went to the shits and people went to the police. He pled guilty but served no prison time.
Cho was arrested for the murders based on the DNA evidence alone. The prosecution suggested that it may have been a burglary gone bad but nothing was missing from the apartment. There was an unstated suspicion that Cho was hired by Songs husband to do the murder but there was no evidence to that effect. The prosecution was under no obligation to provide a motive. Cho denied all involvement and the only explanation for his DNA being at the crime scene was that next to each parking slip at the apartments, there was a storage box that was unsecured. He had some cleaning supplies that included rubber gloves. He suggested that the murderer used the Songs’ parking slip and took advantage of Cho’s gloves that were in his storage container. Cho had moved out of the apartment years before his arrest and there was no evidence of what had been in the storage container.
Cho was convicted and given a life sentence. The prosecution expected him to make a deal by exposing who had put him up to the murders. Instead, he continues, to this day, to proclaim his innocence.
It seems to me that a small amount of DNA, in itself, is not enough evidence to meet the standard for conviction. There was nothing else linking him to the crime. It is certainly possible that someone arriving at the apartment, intent on murdering Charis, might have rummaged around a storage box for something that might help with the crime.
losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/01/29/dna-evidence-leads-to-killer-in-shocking-miracle-mile-triple-murder/
May 5, 2003, Byung Song, returned to his Koreatown, Los Angeles Apartment to find his wife Charis, his infant son Nathan and their nanny, Eun Suk shot to death in the bathroom. The investigation revealed that Chais died at least 30 minutes after the other two and she had been bound and gagged before she was killed. Charis had been out running errands earlier that morning and it has been speculated that the murderer had arrived before Chatis returned. The murderer may have gained entry to the apartment without force, killed the nanny and child and waited for Charis to return home. It is noteworthy that Charis was bound and gagged rather than killed as soon as she got home. There is the possibility that the killer was trying to get information from her. The only forensic evidence was some pieces of rubber believed to have come from household gloves, that contained DNA that could not be identified.
Initially, suspicion fell on the husband. He was a successful business owner in the garment industry. He was a bit of a philanderer but otherwise had a good reputation. He had a solid alibi and the DNA on the piece of rubber was not his. His Position as prime suspect was enhanced when LAPD received an anonymous letter claiming he had hired hit men from Korea to do the job and he had a girlfriend who was hiding out in New York. Police could not figure out who wrote the letter and the girlfriend was never identified. The case went cold.
8 years later, CODIS got a hit on the DNA. The DNA belonged to Robin Cho, a Korean immigrant whose only known connection to the Songs was that he has lived in the same apartment building at the the time of the murders and his parking slip was adjacent to the Song’s. No evidence was ever found that Cho knew the Songs or had any dealings with them. The reason Cho’s DNA “hit” when it did was that Cho had recently been convicted of a felony and, under California law, felons must have their DNA entered on the CODIS data base. The crime Cho had been convicted of was White Collar: Running a Ponzi scheme. What he had done was to attempt to operate an investment group without any legal status; something fairly common within the Korean community, and things went bad. He used new investments to pay off earlier investors who wanted out. Eventually it all went to the shits and people went to the police. He pled guilty but served no prison time.
Cho was arrested for the murders based on the DNA evidence alone. The prosecution suggested that it may have been a burglary gone bad but nothing was missing from the apartment. There was an unstated suspicion that Cho was hired by Songs husband to do the murder but there was no evidence to that effect. The prosecution was under no obligation to provide a motive. Cho denied all involvement and the only explanation for his DNA being at the crime scene was that next to each parking slip at the apartments, there was a storage box that was unsecured. He had some cleaning supplies that included rubber gloves. He suggested that the murderer used the Songs’ parking slip and took advantage of Cho’s gloves that were in his storage container. Cho had moved out of the apartment years before his arrest and there was no evidence of what had been in the storage container.
Cho was convicted and given a life sentence. The prosecution expected him to make a deal by exposing who had put him up to the murders. Instead, he continues, to this day, to proclaim his innocence.
It seems to me that a small amount of DNA, in itself, is not enough evidence to meet the standard for conviction. There was nothing else linking him to the crime. It is certainly possible that someone arriving at the apartment, intent on murdering Charis, might have rummaged around a storage box for something that might help with the crime.