A state appeals court panel has upheld a woman’s second-degree murder conviction for fatally stabbing her husband of four months in their Pico-Union apartment nearly three years ago.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected Misun Yoo’s claim that the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting statements she made to Los Angeles police officers who responded to her 911 call and to an LAPD detective who later questioned her about the July 30, 2017, death of 31-year-old Tae Kyung Sung.
In their ruling Monday, the appellate court justices noted that Yoo said, “I did it,” while being questioned by the detective about what had happened to her husband. She had been advised of her right to an attorney and “admitted to stabbing her husband” after asking about getting legal representation and being told by the detective that she could have an attorney at any time.
The appellate court panel noted that there was evidence that the newlyweds had a troubled relationship.
Yoo’s trial attorney, David Paek, told jurors that blood-spatter evidence suggested that Sung took his own life.
Deputy District Attorney Colby Cano told the panel that evidence of blood found in the bathroom and kitchen sinks and a shower drain proved that Yoo tried to clean up before police arrived.
Jurors convicted Yoo in October 2018 and found true an allegation that she had personally used a knife.
She is serving a 16-year-to-life state prison sentence.