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The case of Koua Fong Lee, a Toyota
driver imprisoned for a crash that killed three people, has spurred
a grass roots movement among people who believe the St. Paul man is
innocent.


      More than 5,500 people have signed up for a "Free Koua Fong
Lee" page on Facebook, created by a Los Angeles man. Volunteers
with the Innocence Project of Minnesota have helped gather evidence
to back up his bid for a new trial. 


His supporters include Trudy
Baltazar, a 50-year-old mother from suburban Cottage Grove, who
said she had never been in a protest, let along organized one.
Until now.

      Lee, 32, is serving an eight-year prison sentence for criminal
vehicular homicide for a 2006 crash involving his 1996 Toyota
Camry. A judge has scheduled an Aug. 2 hearing on Lee's motion for
a new trial. He insists he did everything he could to stop before
his car smashed into an Oldsmobile as it exited Interstate 94 at
high speed.

 His attorneys say they believe Lee's 1996 Camry
experienced sudden unintended acceleration, a problem for which
Toyota has recalled some 8 million vehicles, though none as old as
Lee's.


      Baltazar spent two weeks drumming up support for a demonstration
at 3 p.m. Monday outside the Ramsey County attorney's office, the
St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. She said she was angry with Ramsey
County Attorney Susan Gaertner for opposing a new trial.


      "For a man who did nothing wrong to be separated from his
family like this is, to me, unacceptable," Baltazar said. "And it
should be unacceptable to Susan Gaertner, too."

      In court filings, Gaertner has argued that information submitted
by the defense - including affidavits from several dozen drivers of
Camrys that experienced sudden acceleration - does not constitute
the kind of new evidence required under Minnesota law to obtain a
new trial.


      Two experts hired by her office who re-examined Lee's car in
April said they found no evidence of sudden acceleration.


      Judge Joanne Smith has scheduled an Aug. 2 evidentiary hearing
for both sides to present their arguments on whether Lee should get
a new trial.


      Gaertner said the public sentiment is not surprising, "given
the tone of the media accounts of this case," which she said have
been pro-Lee. She said she could not estimate how many calls,
letters and e-mails she and her staff have received regarding the
Lee case. But she said she would not be swayed by public pleas.


      "It would be a very sad day if I or the justice system in
general started making decisions based on the popular mood,"
Gaertner said. "People who are sympathetic, people who capture the
imagination of the press or the public, cannot be treated
differently than unsympathetic figures. There's a reason we have
the rule of law in our country."


      Like Baltazar, Andrew Gwynn, 30, has never met Lee. The
Rochester native - who now works as a music producer, recording
engineer and songwriter in Los Angeles - said he got motivated to
start the "Free Koua Fong Lee" Facebook page after seeing a
report on Lee on ABC's Nightline.

      "That very night, about 20 minutes later, I went to the
computer and did that," Gwynn said. "There was nothing on
Facebook, and I said, 'I'm going to stand up for this guy.' It just
takes 10 seconds to make a page like that."


      People have signed up for the page from all over the world,
first from the Minnesota Hmong community, he said, then from as far
as New Zealand, Australia and Israel.


      "Then it became like this personal thing for me," he said.
"My clients tell me, 'How do you have time for that? You work 16
hours a day.' It's what I do before I go to work, what I do after I
get home ... responding to posts, searching the Web for more
information, blogs.


      "I want to win it," Gwynn said. "I can't give up now. We're
so close."

      Koua Fong Lee's sister-in-law, Kong Chee Vang, of St. Paul, said
Lee's wife and family have been heartened to know that so many
others are in Lee's corner.


      "When Koua's wife heard there were people protesting to support
Koua, it brought tears to her eyes," Vang said. "Seeing people
believe in Koua makes a big difference. It's a wonderful feeling,
that we have people who care."

Gallery

Crime, Law and Justice

The case of Koua Fong Lee, a Toyota
driver imprisoned for a crash that killed three people, has spurred
a grass roots movement among people who believe the St. Paul man is
innocent.


Support builds for imprisoned Minn. Toyota driver

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