Koua Fong Lee

3 YEARS IN PRISON

Koua Fong Lee was wrongfully convicted of vehicular homicide in 2007 after his 1996 Toyota Camry accelerated uncontrollably at the end of a St. Paul freeway exit ramp and crashed into two vehicles, ultimately killing a man and two children and injuring two others.

Koua, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. Two years later, Toyota revealed that some of its cars were experiencing acceleration issues. The Great North Innocence Project, and attorneys Brent Schafer and Bob Hilliard uncovered strong evidence that—like other Toyota vehicles—Koua’s car malfunctioned, causing it to accelerate and crash.

Students working on the case through the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School interviewed numerous other Toyota drivers who had experienced the same problems with their own Toyotas and drafted and collected over 50 affidavits from them. After serving almost three years in prison, Koua was released and exonerated on August 5, 2010, when the judge ordered a new trial and the prosecution decided to drop the charges.