Ronko Yamada

And during that time, KW upended his life to stay on the case.

So KW said, look, I'm sorry, but I have got to see this through to the end.

KW rearranged his entire career to stay on top of Chulsu's case, running himself ragged to get this new paper off the ground.

And at the end of each day, he stayed up late to write to Chulsu at San Quentin.

August 11th, 1982.

Nine years after Yip Yee Tak was killed in Chinatown, Chol Soo Lee's retrial began.

This time, Chol Soo Lee had a community of supporters behind him.

And while this community support didn't have any legal power, Julie says it had an impact on the trial.

Community support and a top-notch defense was good and all, but Cholsu's fate would ultimately come down to the evidence and testimony that was presented to the jury.

Remember, there was no evidence tying Chol Soo Lee to the murder of Yip Yee Tak.

The ballistics didn't match, so his conviction rested purely on eyewitnesses, the very same witnesses who testified in 1974.

But this time, the result was different.

After nearly a month-long trial, the prosecution and defense rested their cases.

The jury began to deliberate.

Ronco, KW, and Cholsue's supporters were hopeful all their work would free Cholsue.

Deliberations lasted one day.

At 8 p.m., the jury announced that they had reached a verdict.

Everyone filed into the courtroom to hear their decision.

One of the members of the defense committee, J.U., had told activists in the courtroom to stay quiet after the verdict.

Don't make a scene.