Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Government/Legal, Toyota



Koua Fong Lee, the man who was convicted in 2006 of killing three people when his Toyota Camry struck a vehicle at a stoplight, has been acquitted of any crime. Lee served a total of two-and-a-half years in prison after his defense attorney failed to adequately show that he had been applying the brake on his vehicle the whole time. In the wake of a number of unintended acceleration claims on similar Toyota vehicles and increasing outcry for his release (including a big ABC News feature), Lee's case was reopened. In four days of testimony, his new counsel had a series of drivers who had experience unintended acceleration in their Toyotas take the stand. Eventually, the presiding judge heard enough and released Lee.

Lee served two-and-a-half years of an eight-year sentence for vehicular homicide after his first attorney actually suggested to the jury that Lee could have mistaken the accelerator for the brake pedal. Combined with the defendant's limited English and the fact that few people had heard of unintended acceleration at the time of the first trail, the judge sentenced Lee to the maximum penalty under the law. Now that he's been released, Lee says that he'll focus on getting to know the youngest of his four children. Thanks for the tip, Brian!

[Source: MSNBC | Image: Ben Garvin/Associated Press]Report: Man convicted in fatal crash set free with Toyota sudden acceleration appeal originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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What i always wonder when people serve years on a crime and then its found out they where not really at falt is, what compensation do they receve for the years of life lost and potintal bad things that happened to them in jail, in this guys case im sure his assets are held by his wife. so it should be fairly ok but i saw a case where a guy was convicted of murder in the 70s and and due to newer technology it was found that he was not the killer and was let out in the late 90s, im sure his bank account isnt still there, i dought he has a wife. may not have had kids, parents have died. has no training in the current job market. I would think someone owes these people millions.