The Chinese American, falsely convicted of arson and the murder of her parents, was released after 17 years in prison after evidence of biased prosecutors exchanging emails with offensive racist and sexual content. Since her arrest, the girl has been tried three times.
Frances Choi, 17 when her parents died in the April 2003 arson in Brockton, was sentenced to two life sentences without parole in 2011, Enterprise News reported. Francis' nephew, Kenneth, who was 16 at the time, was acquitted of murder charges in 2008.
According to court documents cited by the Boston Globe, Kenneth initially admitted that he planned and staged the arson out of revenge. Francis's father and Kenneth's grandfather, Jimmy Choi, allegedly beat and verbally abused the guy on suspicion of drug dealing. However, then Kenneth refused to testify, saying that the arson was a plan of Francis, and he himself refused to participate in the crime.
Shortly before the start of the third trial, Kenneth fled to Hong Kong.
In her order to overturn the verdict, Judge Linda Giles mentioned the misconduct of prosecutors, as well as the negligence of Choi's lawyer, who did not check other versions, did not pay attention to Kenneth's confession and did not involve experts in the case who could prove the girl's innocence.
During the trial, the prosecutors also exchanged emails containing racist jokes about Asians, Giles said.
Sharon Beckman, a professor at Boston College Law School, called the «wrongful» sentence «the result of racism and other misconduct and systemic failures.»
«[Frances] will never be able to regain the 17 years of her life that the criminal justice system took away from her, but we are very pleased with her rehabilitation and hope that her case will inspire the authorities to serious reforms.»
