Daniel Penny, the prosecutor, secured a light sentence for the thug who killed an 87-year-old during an ATM robbery.
Manhattan DA Dafna Yoran advocated for 'restorative justice' in the case of a suspect involved in a deadly mugging.
Dafna Yoran, the Manhattan District Attorney, urged jurors to convict Daniel Penny of manslaughter on Tuesday, despite her past advocacy for reduced punishment for a mugger who killed an elderly man over $300 in 2019 under the concept of "restorative justice."
On May 13, 2018, at a Citibank ATM on Broadway, Matthew Lee, 57, attacked Dr. Young Kun Kim, a former Lehman College professor, from behind, and the video shows him snuck up on the victim. The fatal blow, a punch to the head, appears to have occurred off-camera.
Kim died from his injuries after being hospitalized, and Lee was arrested as the suspect within a week.
In 2019, the New York Post reported that Kim, who lived through the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War, was forgiven by his son at his killer's sentencing in a Manhattan courthouse.
In 2020, under a policy introduced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., Yoran saw an opportunity for a transformative outcome in a homicide case, according to Gothamist.
According to Staten Island defense attorney Louis Gelormino, the case against Penny is a continuation of the soft-on-crime policies that have dominated big cities.
According to contemporary reports, Kim's son and daughter-in-law, Jinsoo and Julia Kim, agreed to meet with Lee, his sister and a social worker for 90 minutes. However, the couple could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
"Jinsoo Kim, in his victim's impact statement, stated that he cannot control the amount of pain he feels, but he can choose how much he hates, and he has decided to stop hating Lee. He forgave Lee not only for his sake but also for his own healing. There is no healing where there is hate."
Lee was charged with manslaughter instead of felony murder, resulting in a reduced potential sentence from 25 years to life to 10 years.
Felony murder charges are typically filed when a death occurs due to a felony committed by the suspect, while manslaughter charges involve behavior that is reckless and results in death.
Currently, Lee is incarcerated in a medium-security prison in Otisville, New York, and will become eligible for parole in 2026.
If convicted of manslaughter, Penny, 26, could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Jurors began deliberations on Tuesday.
"In her closing arguments, Yoran stated that the defense had accused the system and the police response for Jordan Neely's death, but everyone else was responsible except the defendant. The only thing the jury needed to decide was whether the evidence had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had killed Jordan Neely."
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