(23 Aug 2014) A South Korean-born man was freed from prison in the United States on Friday after serving 24 years for arson and murder, following a judge's ruling that the case against him was based on now-debunked arson science.
Han Tak Lee, 79, walked out of a federal courthouse in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after a judge released him on unsecured bond and restricted his travel to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Lee's arson-murder conviction for the death of his daughter was overturned.
His attorney, Peter Goldberger, said Lee's first stop would be a medical and psychological check-up.
He predicted Lee's adjustment to life outside prison will be challenging.
U.S. District Judge William Nealon threw out Lee's state conviction and sentence of life without parole this month and gave prosecutors 120 days to decide whether they want to retry him in the 1989 death of his daughter, 20-year-old Ji Yun Lee.
Prosecutors have conceded the arson science used to convict Lee was faulty but insist that other evidence points to his guilt.
A county prosecutor plans to seek a review, suggesting it may ask a federal appeals court to overturn the decision to release Lee.
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