Science Casts Doubt on Arson Convictions

This photo, provided by the Lee family, shows Ji Yun Lee when she was in the 12th grade during a visit to Washington, DC. Lee's father, Han Tak Lee, a Korean immigrant, is serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison for setting a fire at a cabin that killed Ji Yun in 1989. Many fire investigators now believe that the evidence used to convict him is scientifically inaccurate. (AP Photo/Lee Family) (AP)

A definitive count isn't possible, but the best estimate of leading fire investigators across the country is that there could be hundreds of mistaken arson prosecutions, all built on the same ideas that were uprooted more than a decade ago.

The new arson science could become the most powerful tool to reveal wrongful convictions since DNA testing began overturning rape and murder cases in 1989. So far, 186 men and one woman have been freed because of the new technology.

This isn't just about correcting the historical record. Not only are people behind bars because of faulty arson investigative techniques, others may be on their way. Critics say that some investigators, in rural counties and big cities, resist the new science and prosecute cases based on discredited methods.

"How do you know someone's guilty if you don't know a crime has been committed?" says Richard Custer, principal architect of a pivotal document on arson.

Another investigator _ John J. Lentini, a widely known fire expert who has worked with national arson investigation groups to unravel the old misconceptions _ has been a consultant on Lee's case, analyzing evidence and testimony.

His conclusion: "While the Commonwealth's witnesses may have believed that they were testifying truthfully, the fact is that the jury was misled by objectively false testimony."

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Things were rough for the Lee family that summer of 1989.

Han Tak and his wife, Esther Lee, had lived apart seven years while he got his start in the United States. She and their two girls stayed in Seoul.

Now the family was together in New York City and tension was high.

There were long hours at the Lees' clothing store on Seventh Avenue near Madison Square Garden, where all the family worked. And Han Tak was too strict with the girls _ too traditional, too many rules, Esther recalls as she traces the journey of her troubled marriage.

Worst of all, Ji Yun, 20 and the oldest child, was ill again after a few years of calm.