FIRST DAY OF FREEDOM:
DA Drops Murder Charges Against Two
Publication: Albuquerque Journal Final Edition; Page: A1 by Hall, Heinz, Journal Staff Writer
Michael Lee has “NOT GUILTY” tattooed in 3-inch high letters across his back. He got the tattoo in prison using sharpened staples and burned petroleum jelly, a process that took 38 hours over two months. Lee said knowing he wasn’t guilty is what got him through the 15 months he spent in the Metropolitan Detention Center on murder charges that were dropped Wednesday. “I knew I was innocent,” he said.
Lee and Travis Rowley have been at MDC since December 2007, when they were charged with the killing of Tak and Pung Yi, an elderly Korean couple who were slain in their home. The men were released Wednesday after District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said her office was “ethically obligated” to drop the charges until it could build a stronger case. She emphasized that the investigation continues and that the charges can be refiled if more evidence is found to advance the case.
The two men looked exuberant during a news conference Wednesday. Rowley sipped an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks, and both men had changed from their orange jumpsuits into dress clothes provided by the Public Defender’s Office that were a little too big. “I can’t wait to give my mom a hug,” Lee said.
Rowley and Lee were arrested more than 15 months ago after witnesses living near the Yis told officers that a man matching Rowley’s description had been selling magazines in the area and had tried to talk his way into a nearby home. Rowley later confessed to the killings, but that confession has been called into question by his attorneys. Defense attorneys at Wednesday’s news conference said they felt the police investigation had focused too early on Rowley and Lee Instead of following up on other possible leads.
Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said the Police Department stands firmly behind its 1nvestigat1on and still believes that Rowley and Lee were involved in the Yi k1lhngs.
“The Distnct Attorney’s Office has requested some further investigation that is being done noe and chose to put the prosecution on hold,” he said. “We anticipate that these two individuals wtll be brought to Justice.” The case against the men began to unravel after DNA collected from under Tak Vi’s fingernails was matched to career criminal Clifton Bloomfield, then in prison for another homicide.
Bloomfield has since pleaded guilty to killing the Yis and three other people.
Stephen Aarons, one of Rowley’s defense attorneys, said he is grateful to Tak Yi, 79, for struggling to save himself and his wife Pung, 69, who was raped before she was killed. That struggle left DNA under Tak Vi’s fingernails that was used to link Bloomfield to the crime. “My thoughts are of Tak Yi,” Aarons said. “He fought Bloomfield, and he couldn’t save himself or his wife, but he did save these two men.”
