: On June 3, 1973, Yip Yee Tak , a member of the Wah Ching gang, was shot and killed in broad daylight on a crowded street corner in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
: Police arrested Chol Soo Lee , a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who worked odd jobs in the area.
The 2022 documentary Free Chol Soo Lee tells the gripping true story of a landmark 1970s social justice movement sparked by a wrongful conviction in San Francisco. The Crime and Conviction
: Lee was identified by three white witnesses who struggled to distinguish Asian faces. The police also linked him to the crime because he had accidentally discharged a similar-caliber gun five days earlier. Despite having no connection to the Chinatown gangs, Lee was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The Fight for Freedom
: After spending ten years in prison—eight of which were on death row—Lee’s conviction was overturned. He was acquitted during a retrial and released on March 28, 1983. The Aftermath
: In 1977, investigative journalist K.W. Lee wrote a series of articles in the Sacramento Union questioning the investigation's integrity and highlighting racial profiling.