Culture on Trial: The Wrongful Conviction of Han Tak Lee

Episode 67

In 1989, a fire at a religious camp in Pennsylvania claimed the life of 20-year-old Ji Yun Lee. Her father, Han Tak Lee, a Korean immigrant with no criminal record, was swiftly arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison. But what seemed like a clear-cut arson case quickly unraveled into a cautionary tale of flawed fire science, cultural bias, and the dangers of rushing to judgment.

In this episode, we examine how prosecutors built a case on burn patterns and cultural ignorance—and how modern fire investigation and one relentless expert helped expose the truth. Han Tak Lee spent 24 years behind bars for a crime that science would later prove never happened.

This is the story of how culture was put on trial—and how justice failed.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

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Sources:

From Magic to Law: The Han Tak Lee Case and Arson Investigation — National Association for Public Defense
https://publicdefenders.us/blogs/from-magic-to-law-the-han-tak-lee-case-and-arson-investigation

Locked Away for 24 Years, Han Tak Lee Still Feels Imprisoned — The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/nyregion/locked-away-for-24-years-han-tak-lee-still-feels-imprisoned.html

Han Tak Lee v. Houtzdale — U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit (2015)
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-3rd-circuit/1710954.html

Old Arson-Murder Rap Tossed, Man is Set Free— USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/22/arson-murder-han-tak-lee/14451491/

Kim Honors Han Tak Lee with Legislation — Queens Chronicle
https://www.qchron.com/editions/north/kim-honors-han-tak-lee-with-legislation/article_ddc61e5b-e920-5ac7-a1e9-18955a35763f.html

Han Tak Lee Case Overview — International Network for Innocent Arson Defendants
https://www.niad.info/Han_Tak_Lee.html

Han Tak Lee — Pennsylvania Innocence Project
https://painnocence.org/hantaklee

A Calculated Arson: The Han Tak Lee Case — John J. Lentini
https://www.academia.edu/38962288/A_Calculated_Arson_The_Han_Tak_Lee_case_John_Lentini

Author Blurb for Upcoming Book on Han Tak Lee — David DeKok
https://daviddekok.com