Criminal The Mug Book
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Feb 27, 2026 Ranko (Ronko) Yamada, a longtime supporter who organized Chol Soo Lee’s defense, and Lizzie Peabody, narrator and Smithsonian Side Door host. They recount a Chinatown murder, problematic mug-book identifications by tourists, flawed ballistics, cross-racial ID issues, the rise of a pan-Asian defense movement, investigative journalism that reopened the case, and the long fight that led to a retrial and freedom.
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Mug Books And Cross-Racial Misidentification
- Police used mug books of Asian men's photos and relied on white tourist witnesses who only saw the shooter briefly.
- Those tourists pointed to Chol Soo Lee despite language, height, and facial-hair mismatches, highlighting flawed cross-racial IDs.
Friend Spotting A Wrongly Accused Neighbor
- Ranko Yamada recognized Chol Soo Lee from a newspaper and confirmed he was the Korean kid she knew from Japantown.
- She drove to the Sacramento courthouse to support him and later became his main advocate, even starting law school to help.
Two Part Investigation Sparked A Movement
- K.W. Lee published a two-part Sacramento Union series framing Chol Soo Lee's life and the case as 'Alice in Chinatown Murder Case.'
- The reporting emphasized cultural mislabeling, systemic bias, and why Chinatown gangs wouldn't hire a Korean youth as a hitman.