Martiga Lohn / Associated Press
St. Paul, Minn. -- Koua Fong Lee dreamed of life outside prison, of returning to the family he left when a jury didn't believe he tried to stop his Toyota from speeding up a highway ramp and a judge sentenced him to eight years for the ensuing crash that killed three people.
On Thursday, Lee fought back tears, suddenly a free man after the same judge ruled new evidence and a shoddy defense entitled him to a new trial. The county prosecutor agreed, and said she wouldn't bring charges again.
"It's not a dream. It's true," Lee said, as his wife, Panghoua Moua, buried her head in his shoulder. "When we are asleep in the cell, sometimes I dream and I wake up in the little room, still in the little room. But now my dream come true."
Lee, who immigrated to the U.S. from a Thai refugee camp in 2004, was driving a Toyota Camry when it plowed at high speed into the back of an Oldsmobile as Lee exited a St. Paul freeway ramp in 2006. He insisted during his trial that he did everything he could to stop the car but couldn't.
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St. Paul, Minn. -- Koua Fong Lee dreamed of life outside prison, of returning to the family he left when a jury didn't believe he tried to stop his Toyota from speeding up a highway ramp and a judge sentenced him to eight years for the ensuing crash that killed three people.
On Thursday, Lee fought back tears, suddenly a free man after the same judge ruled new evidence and a shoddy defense entitled him to a new trial. The county prosecutor agreed, and said she wouldn't bring charges again.
"It's not a dream. It's true," Lee said, as his wife, Panghoua Moua, buried her head in his shoulder. "When we are asleep in the cell, sometimes I dream and I wake up in the little room, still in the little room. But now my dream come true."
Lee, who immigrated to the U.S. from a Thai refugee camp in 2004, was driving a Toyota Camry when it plowed at high speed into the back of an Oldsmobile as Lee exited a St. Paul freeway ramp in 2006. He insisted during his trial that he did everything he could to stop the car but couldn't.
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