My name is Sonny Wong. I am 45 years old, and I have been serving an LWOP sentence for 22 years. I’m a victim of a frame-up, sold out by my trial attorney who colluded with the prosecution in the concealment of exculpatory evidence to convict me in this case. Police officers and investigators had also conspired with the actual perpetrators from the Kenside Wah Ching gang to incriminate me, after one of the co-defendants declared that they had put a hit on me, a solicitation for murder, “That’s anybody from Ken Side will see him they kill him.” To fulfill this objective, the police relied immensely on biased witness statements from gang members, mass-produced redacted and altered versions of interviews and reports, and fabricated evidence.
Many of the original witnesses’ statements were never brought in my trial, such as Amy Sunmo and Chi Keung Liang. Amy Sunmo recognized and identified all the perpetrators that were at her residence during the commission of the crime, none of which was me. In fact, she has never even heard of my name before. She specifically stated that the subjects seemed to be kids from Mark Keppel High School, located across the street from her residence. Chi Keung Liang stated that the person that picked up his son on the day of the murder was a subject name “Ben”. Investigator Tracy Jacobson later identified Ben as Binh or Bieu Quoc, a Wah Ching gang member who also goes by his moniker “Westside,” or “Billy/Billie.” Despite having this information, the prosecutor had one of the co-defendants give a perjured testimony that I picked them up on the day of the murder. As a result of their cooperation, the co-defendant was given an illegal plea bargain of 8 years with their records sealed. Similar offers were also given to the other co-defendants for scapegoating me: 15 years and 25 years to life (who has a parole hearing on 01/2023. The other perpetrators were never apprehended in this case. Acknowledging that this was an illegal plea bargain, the judge asked on record, “Okay. Anyone going to mention that this is an illegal plea bargain?” With no objections or motions in limine, the court proceeded with the trial. During the procession of the trial, a Cantonese interpreter was used for the co-defendant despite his ability to comprehend basic English. It was later discovered that the interpreter was certified federally as a Mandarin interpreter only, not Cantonese. Additionally, no voir dire was present in the records to verify her qualifications as a Cantonese interpreter.
Additional case documentation proving my innocence can be found below in the link. I’m a firm believer of the truth and that the documents can speak for themselves. Original case documentation has shown that the actual perpetrators have a track record for incriminating individuals like me, which contributed to their sophisticated Modus Operandi (M.O.). Yet, time after time, our criminal justice system has demonstrated its failure to protect the rights of innocent and indigent individuals like me, and thus cause a miscarriage of justice. My constitutional rights to a fair trial and proper legal representation were violated, even after I filed a Marsden Motion to plead to the judge to grant me a substitution of counsel. I wasn’t allowed to challenge any of the false and perjurious evidence used to convict me of these crimes. I did not have in my possession police statements, pictures of evidence, nor did counsel or investigators review circumstances surrounding the evidence with me. Important witnesses were not called to my defense.
To me, this is the epitome of profanity stacked atop a mockery. The judicial railroading of any law-abiding citizen is truly a grotesque mockery and threat to our criminal justice system, and most importantly, our constitutional rights. Unless one has the financial means to afford a fair and just lawyer, any John or Jane citizen is subject to this nightmarish and devious scheme.