As the interrogation stretched into the wee hours of the night, Trapp pressed Cho. She didn’t believe Lee wanted to commit suicide, the detective said. He had purchased plane tickets to return to South Korea and sent his wife flowers and a letter saying he was coming home, Trapp pointed out.
Cho’s story grew stranger. While maintaining that Lee wanted to die, he began enumerating reasons he’d grown to resent his longtime friend over the years. Cho said his family lost their home to debt collectors in South Korea years ago as a result of a bad business deal Lee made, for which Cho was the guarantor. In recent months, Cho said, Lee was blackmailing him, threatening to get Cho and his family deported from the U.S. if Cho didn’t go along with his demands.
Then about a month before his death, Lee came over to Cho’s home to drink and passed out on the couch. In the middle of the night, Cho said, he awoke to find Lee, drunk and naked, in their bedroom. Lee, he said, was sexually assaulting his wife. Embarrassed, confused and afraid, Cho said he pretended to be asleep.
“I want to know,” Trapp responded, “as a husband, a father, as a man, as the head of the household, how did you feel?”
“I wanted to kill him,” Cho said.
Cho’s first-degree murder trial began this month in a top-floor courtroom in downtown Santa Ana.
Suicide is a sign of failure of moral upbringing, so it stigmatizes the whole family.
Cho’s defense attorney, deputy public defender Robert Kohler, told the mostly non-Korean jury that cultural context could help them make sense of what may seem an improbable story.
Kohler also called to the stand Cho’s wife. The woman looked neither at her husband, who wiped away tears with trembling hands in the defendant’s seat, nor at the jurors weighing his fate as she testified in a barely audible voice.
Years ago in South Korea, she said, Lee made a pass at her, which she rejected. Then about a month before his death, Lee drunkenly came into the room where she and her husband were sleeping and touched her inappropriately, the woman said. She fought him, but didn’t make a sound or wake her husband because she was ashamed, she said. In the following weeks, Lee raped her, she said. Twice. But she never told her husband about any of the incidents.
On Monday, he took the stand in his own defense.
Right up to the last moment, he never thought Lee would go through with the plan, Cho said.
“Whether I liked him or I hated him, he was a friend,” he said. "I was begging him, let's stop this. I was trying to save him."
“Were you thinking of saving him when you put the gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Simmons asked.
Cho testified that it was only when Lee insulted his wife and his daughter that he pulled the trigger.
If jurors decide Cho did not intend to kill his friend until the moment he pulled the trigger, that he shot in the “heat of passion,” they have the option of finding him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. If they doubt that story and instead find that he decided earlier to kill the man, they could convict him of first-degree murder, for which he could get up to a life sentence. Jurors began deliberating Thursday morning.
Whatever they decide, the friendship that spanned more than three decades, survived financial debacles and crossed the Pacific ends with one dead on a roadside in Anaheim and the other in a California prison cell.
Cho said he left behind the man he once considered closer than his siblings and his parents, even his wife, and drove into the night, not once looking back.
“I realized, I did it,” he said. “I did it.”
Sunday, September 25, 2016
A Man Killed His Childhood Friend as A Favour Part 1
Beong Kwun Cho stood with a cocked Smith and Wesson revolver in his hand.
Crouched less than a foot away was his childhood friend, a man he’d known for more than three decades since they were schoolboys in South Korea. Years ago, Yeon Woo Lee had been the one to carry the hahm, the chest full of gifts, at Cho’s wedding -- the equivalent of a best man. Now, Lee was on his knees.
Cho’s mind ran through the events that led them to this moment, in the dead of night on a sparse industrial corner of east Anaheim, miles from the cheery glow of Disneyland. He waited for one bicyclist to pass, then another. He heard the rumble of an approaching train.
Crouched less than a foot away was his childhood friend, a man he’d known for more than three decades since they were schoolboys in South Korea. Years ago, Yeon Woo Lee had been the one to carry the hahm, the chest full of gifts, at Cho’s wedding -- the equivalent of a best man. Now, Lee was on his knees.
Cho’s mind ran through the events that led them to this moment, in the dead of night on a sparse industrial corner of east Anaheim, miles from the cheery glow of Disneyland. He waited for one bicyclist to pass, then another. He heard the rumble of an approaching train.
He squeezed the trigger, then it was over. He watched his friend slump forward.
Prosecutors call it first-degree murder. Cho says it’s not that simple. A street sweeper discovered the body of Lee, a 50-year-old South Korean national with bulbous eyes and round cheeks, before dawn Tuesday, Jan 25, 2011.
The man lay next to his rental car, blood pooled around his head. On his back were large, muddy footprints and next to his body, a cigarette butt, a flat tire and a jack.
To investigators, the scene seemed self-explanatory: A tourist unfamiliar with the area was changing a flat tire on a poorly lighted street when an attack or accident befell him. But when detectives sent the body out for an X-ray of the head wound, they saw the single bullet that had pierced his brain, back to front, before lodging in the front left side of his skull.
Records at E-Z Rent-A-Car led investigators to Room 146 at Howard Johnson, where the owner said Lee had paid cash and asked to be kept off the registration books. Detectives next retraced his steps to a Fullerton motel he’d stayed at earlier. He had listed two 714 phone numbers. One was for a prepaid “burner” phone. The other took them to a sand-colored home in Cerritos.
Around midnight, less than 24 hours after Lee’s body was found, Cho answered the door at the home where he lived with his wife and two daughters. He agreed to help investigators and drove himself to the police station.
“Looks like it is something important?” Cho asked in Korean, feigning confusion.
Cho claimed that he’d last seen his longtime friend, who was visiting from South Korea, during dinner at a sushi restaurant Monday night. He’d been calling Lee all day Tuesday, and thought it was strange he couldn’t get in touch with him, he told homicide detective Julissa Trapp and a Korean-speaking officer. He thought perhaps Lee had abruptly left for South Korea, Cho told the detectives.
A couple of hours into the interrogation, Trapp switched her tone and asked her what really happened. Cho then took out his cigaratte and started telling the story. Cho’s two daughters grew up considering Lee an uncle, he said. Their families vacationed together. The two men did business together. Then a few months ago, Lee asked Cho for a favor he wasn’t sure he could do, even for his closest friend, he told the detective. Lee’s motel business in South Korea was foundering. His marriage was falling apart. Lee told Cho he wanted to die, but didn’t want to burden his family with the trauma and social stigma that comes with suicide, Cho said.
Lee tried to hire people he’d met at nearby casinos to kill him and make it look like a random crime, Cho said, but they demanded payment ahead of time and he didn’t trust them to go through with it. Ultimately, he turned to his best friend.
“He said there is no other way -- this is the only way,” he told Trapp.
His friend, Cho told police, orchestrated the entire scenario. It was Lee who procured the gun and a box of ammunition. Lee drove around scouting out possible sites, choosing a couple spots near bodies of water because he was superstitious. Lee arranged for them to go to a gun range together for target practice, and took Cho to a Wal-Mart where he bought black knit gloves and size 13 shoes — props to make his death look like a robbery.
Lee then chose the date for the deed, Cho said: his wife’s birthday. It would be his last gift.
After dinner that night, they each drove their respective cars to the spot Lee had picked out. Lee flattened the tire, ransacked the glove compartment of his rental and smoked a final cigarette. He handed Cho the revolver wrapped in a T-shirt before dropping to his knees with his back to his friend, Cho said.
Prosecutors call it first-degree murder. Cho says it’s not that simple. A street sweeper discovered the body of Lee, a 50-year-old South Korean national with bulbous eyes and round cheeks, before dawn Tuesday, Jan 25, 2011.
The man lay next to his rental car, blood pooled around his head. On his back were large, muddy footprints and next to his body, a cigarette butt, a flat tire and a jack.
To investigators, the scene seemed self-explanatory: A tourist unfamiliar with the area was changing a flat tire on a poorly lighted street when an attack or accident befell him. But when detectives sent the body out for an X-ray of the head wound, they saw the single bullet that had pierced his brain, back to front, before lodging in the front left side of his skull.
Records at E-Z Rent-A-Car led investigators to Room 146 at Howard Johnson, where the owner said Lee had paid cash and asked to be kept off the registration books. Detectives next retraced his steps to a Fullerton motel he’d stayed at earlier. He had listed two 714 phone numbers. One was for a prepaid “burner” phone. The other took them to a sand-colored home in Cerritos.
Around midnight, less than 24 hours after Lee’s body was found, Cho answered the door at the home where he lived with his wife and two daughters. He agreed to help investigators and drove himself to the police station.
“Looks like it is something important?” Cho asked in Korean, feigning confusion.
Cho claimed that he’d last seen his longtime friend, who was visiting from South Korea, during dinner at a sushi restaurant Monday night. He’d been calling Lee all day Tuesday, and thought it was strange he couldn’t get in touch with him, he told homicide detective Julissa Trapp and a Korean-speaking officer. He thought perhaps Lee had abruptly left for South Korea, Cho told the detectives.
A couple of hours into the interrogation, Trapp switched her tone and asked her what really happened. Cho then took out his cigaratte and started telling the story. Cho’s two daughters grew up considering Lee an uncle, he said. Their families vacationed together. The two men did business together. Then a few months ago, Lee asked Cho for a favor he wasn’t sure he could do, even for his closest friend, he told the detective. Lee’s motel business in South Korea was foundering. His marriage was falling apart. Lee told Cho he wanted to die, but didn’t want to burden his family with the trauma and social stigma that comes with suicide, Cho said.
Lee tried to hire people he’d met at nearby casinos to kill him and make it look like a random crime, Cho said, but they demanded payment ahead of time and he didn’t trust them to go through with it. Ultimately, he turned to his best friend.
“He said there is no other way -- this is the only way,” he told Trapp.
His friend, Cho told police, orchestrated the entire scenario. It was Lee who procured the gun and a box of ammunition. Lee drove around scouting out possible sites, choosing a couple spots near bodies of water because he was superstitious. Lee arranged for them to go to a gun range together for target practice, and took Cho to a Wal-Mart where he bought black knit gloves and size 13 shoes — props to make his death look like a robbery.
Lee then chose the date for the deed, Cho said: his wife’s birthday. It would be his last gift.
After dinner that night, they each drove their respective cars to the spot Lee had picked out. Lee flattened the tire, ransacked the glove compartment of his rental and smoked a final cigarette. He handed Cho the revolver wrapped in a T-shirt before dropping to his knees with his back to his friend, Cho said.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Are You More Forgetful Than A FIsh?
Whether it's Dory having alzheimer's or having a brain the size of a goldfish, fish are tend to be very simple-minded creatures. Even though fish diverged from land vertebrates 450 million years ago, both have developed similar vision to hunt, escape predators, and avoid collisions. Researchers have hypothesized that we see the same motion illusions as a result of convergent evolution, where organisms not closely related independently evolved similar traits as a resuly of having to adapt to similar environments.
What about attention span? One particular report found that the human attention span is down from 12 seconds in the tear 2000 to 8 seconds today. Our use of the internet and mobile devices is theorized to play a role, but either way goldfish have a 9 second attention span, trumping that of a human. When it comes to forgetfulness, a study using African cichlids gave fish food reward in a particular zone of an aquarium for three days in a row. Then the fish were given a 12 day rest period before being reintroduced into the aquarium. Using motion tracking software, the cichlids showed a distinct preference to the area of the aqarium where they had previously received a reward.
Studies have even shown goldfish can remember things for at least 3 months, distinguishing between shapes, colours, sounds, and even navigating mazes. On top of this, goldfish can recognize their owners. So ultimately, fish have been shown to have quite good memories. After all, they need to remember prey types, avoid predators and even avoid our hooks after being caught in the past. When it comes to pain, we're actually quite different than fish. When you injure yourself receptors in your body send signals to the neocortex where the sensation of pain is processed. But many fish lack nociceptors and all fish lack a neocortex, so pain isn't experienced in the same way.
What about attention span? One particular report found that the human attention span is down from 12 seconds in the tear 2000 to 8 seconds today. Our use of the internet and mobile devices is theorized to play a role, but either way goldfish have a 9 second attention span, trumping that of a human. When it comes to forgetfulness, a study using African cichlids gave fish food reward in a particular zone of an aquarium for three days in a row. Then the fish were given a 12 day rest period before being reintroduced into the aquarium. Using motion tracking software, the cichlids showed a distinct preference to the area of the aqarium where they had previously received a reward.
Studies have even shown goldfish can remember things for at least 3 months, distinguishing between shapes, colours, sounds, and even navigating mazes. On top of this, goldfish can recognize their owners. So ultimately, fish have been shown to have quite good memories. After all, they need to remember prey types, avoid predators and even avoid our hooks after being caught in the past. When it comes to pain, we're actually quite different than fish. When you injure yourself receptors in your body send signals to the neocortex where the sensation of pain is processed. But many fish lack nociceptors and all fish lack a neocortex, so pain isn't experienced in the same way.
Cats
It amazes me how many things we do not know about cats. A domestic cat is a small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal. They are also one of my favourite animals. They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines. Cats are often valued by humans for companionship and for their ability to hunt pests such as rats, mice and so on. There are more than 70 cat breeds.
Cats have a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and other small animals. They can see in near darkness. Like most other mammals, cats have poorer colour vision and a better sense of smell than humans. Cats, despite being solitary hunters, are a social species and cat communication includes the use of variety vocalizations such as mewing, purring, trilling, hissing growling and grunting, as well as cat pheromones and types of cat-specific body language.
Cats have a high breeding rate. Under controlled breeding, they can be bred and shown as registered pedigree pets, a hobby known as cat fancy. Failure to control the breeding of pet cats by neutering and the abandonment of former household pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, requiring population control.Cats have been known to extirpate a bird species within specific regions and may have contributed to the extinction of isolated island populations.
Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BC). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8,000 BC in West Asia. 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today.
Cats have a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and other small animals. They can see in near darkness. Like most other mammals, cats have poorer colour vision and a better sense of smell than humans. Cats, despite being solitary hunters, are a social species and cat communication includes the use of variety vocalizations such as mewing, purring, trilling, hissing growling and grunting, as well as cat pheromones and types of cat-specific body language.
Cats have a high breeding rate. Under controlled breeding, they can be bred and shown as registered pedigree pets, a hobby known as cat fancy. Failure to control the breeding of pet cats by neutering and the abandonment of former household pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, requiring population control.Cats have been known to extirpate a bird species within specific regions and may have contributed to the extinction of isolated island populations.
Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BC). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8,000 BC in West Asia. 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today.
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