A woman in Washington state is being charged with second-degree murder and is being sued for wrongful death by her two stepdaughters. They say she attacked and stabbed her husband in the back with a knife during a fight and said she did it in self-defense. The daughters of victim Jay Choi say in their lawsuit that they should get general and special damages for his death no matter what happened.
The daughters’ complaint says that the defendant’s actions caused Jay Choi serious injuries that caused him pain, suffering, disability, fear of impending death, and wrongful death. As a result, his estate is entitled to recover general and special compensatory damages, as well as any other damages that are legal because of the defendant’s actions. “This is also shown by what Youngmi Shin did… even though Jay Choi’s death was probably not planned.”
Someone named Shin, 52, is accused of stabbing Choi, 62, to death at their home in November. The house was in the 10200 block of Ainsworth Avenue South in Parkland, which is about 10 miles south of Tacoma. Shin has pleaded not guilty and says she was acting in self-defense. According to her charging papers, which are part of the wrongful death suit, she told police that Choi “grabbed her by the hair and then punched her in the face” before she fought back and stabbed him.
A probable cause declaration from the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says that deputies from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office were sent to the 10200 block of Ainsworth Avenue South in Pierce County to check on a person’s welfare. The person who reported Choi’s death was a neighbor who lived a few houses down. “Dispatch said that a woman from Asia who was covered in blood had called the reporting party.” The Asian woman, whose name was given as suspect Youngmi Shin, told the person who made the report that her husband was dying.
When deputies got there, they called the person who had reported the crime and were told that Shin, who was “covered in blood,” had run east down a road. According to the charges, when they went to check the garage, they heard a “hysterical female yelling.” The papers say that as the police rounded the corner of the house on the property, they saw the defendant “holding and on top of a male on the ground.” “There was blood on both the male and the female.”
Police say that Choi and Shin were not moving when officers found them. The charges against him say, “He had one eye open and one eye closed.” “The defendant was taken off the victim by deputies.” The victim didn’t have a pulse when the deputies looked for one.
prosecutors say Shin told them that she had been “in some kind of argument” with Choi and had “stabbed her husband in the back with a knife” while police were taking off Choi’s clothes to see where he was hurt. The charge papers say, “She also said the knife she used was ‘inside.'”
Police talked to the neighbor who reported the crime, and the person said that Shin came up to her front door in a hurry and asked her to call the police.
There is evidence that the woman saw the suspect standing there with blood on her hands when she opened the door. “The defendant asked her to call the police because her husband was dying.” The accused then walked away from the house again.
According to the charging papers, Shin admitted to killing Choi in self-defense after she used her right to a lawyer. This means that the confession cannot be used in court. She told him that she and Choi had a fight because he was drinking “almost” a whole bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey with two friends, even though they had family coming over the next day.
The charges against her say that Choi came into the house and asked her to have a drink with him. “He asked her to sing for him when they got to the shop.” She did that, but she didn’t drink the whiskey. That night, she had only two Coors Light beers.
Shin said Choi asked her to buy another bottle of booze after some time, but she said no. The charging papers say Shin told police that her husband started to insult her parents and then asked for a set of keys and tried to leave the house. She told the police that Choi attacked her because she tried to block the opening so he couldn’t drive.
Choi’s daughters are suing for wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress because they say their father was hurt personally and lost love and friendship. They are also suing for harm to the parent-child relationship. In their lawsuit, they say that Choi did not have a will.
What my family and my dad’s friends are going through is unimaginable grief, and we will never fully heal from this terrible loss,” Shin’s daughters said in a filing last week that was against a motion to lower his bail, which has been set at $1 million, according to The News Tribune.
The two said Choi is “a serious flight risk” because she is linked to criminals and has a history of fake marriage schemes to get into the country, according to the Tribune. Her request to have her bail lowered was turned down.
