Young Chan Choi and Sun Hee Choi were hardworking Korean immigrants who achieved the American dream as successful business owners in Gwinnett County, family members said.
The man who violently killed them in their Duluth home will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Ki Song Kim, 49, has been convicted of murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Kathryn Schrader found Kim guilty in a bench trial and sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 90 years.
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Kim testified that while he was present when the killings occurred, he had nothing to do with them. Kim said he brought a friend he called “Sam Choi” to the Chois’ home in hopes of getting him a job, but Sam Choi “went crazy” and attacked the married couple, demanding money.
Prosecutors said Kim and a second man went to the Chois’ home, tortured and killed them before ransacking the first and second floors of their home. Only a small religious item was taken, a detective testified.
“Sam Choi” has never been identified by police, and Assistant District Attorney John Warr said that the name may have been made up in order to cover for a friend of Kim’s that moved back to South Korea shortly after the murders. The AJC is not publishing the friend’s name because he has not been charged with a crime.
Kim avoided the possibility of the death penalty when prosecutors withdrew their intent to seek it Tuesday morning. They did so after Kim and his attorneys agreed to a stipulated bench trial, meaning the defense agreed to admit certain pieces of evidence as fact before the trial began, and to have Schrader determine guilt instead of a jury.
The Chois’ son, David Choi, as well as Sun Hee Choi’s brother Inseob Hahn and nephew John Lee, asked Schrader to sentence Kim to the maximum punishment on each charge.
“I am going to honor the statements of Mr. Lee and David Choi and the others who have given anguished statements today,” Schrader said before handing down the sentence.
David Choi is the only child of Young Chan Choi and Sun Hee Choi, who operated a successful restaurant supply company based in Norcross. David Choi expressed anguish that his 6-year-old daughter, barely a toddler at the time of the 2013 murders, will never have a relationship with her grandparents.
“What saddens me most is that my daughter will never have memories of family trips, gatherings and storytellings,” David Choi said before sentencing. “These were taken from her by these depraved, malicious acts.”
David Choi praised his parents as selflessly working to ensure he could pursue any path he wanted. The Chois ran Best Supply, a Norcross-based restaurant supply company. Kim had worked there for a year between 2011 and 2012, and had been re-hired just two weeks before the murders.
"My parents were first generation immigrants from South Korea who decided to build a new life in a strange land,” David Choi said. “I am immensely proud of them for building this from nothing and achieving the quintessential American dream."
Sun Hee Choi’s family has not told her 94-year-old mother, described by Hahn as “senile,” about the murders, afraid of how she might react. Hahn told Schrader in a written statement that he may have the courage to tell his mother the truth now that Kim will never leave the confines of a prison.
Schrader, who has presided over every hearing in Kim’s case, noted that Kim’s demeanor — calm and almost void of emotion — did not change from the beginning of trial through the end of sentencing.
“I think one of the disappointing things for me watching your statement [to police in a video] and your presence in court and even your testimony yesterday was the complete disconnect in the value and humanity of Mr. and Mrs. Choi,” Schrader said.
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