Seattle man says dropped murder, arson charges against him were result of ‘racist misidentification’

In early June, Susan Lisette Klee, 72, died after a fire engulfed her home in the Wallingford neighborhood. About a month later, with the help of security camera footage, Seattle police arrested a suspect, a 25-year-old Amazon software engineer named Letian Shi. Shi and his lawyers maintained he was not the arsonist.

On Friday, King County prosecutors dropped their charges and released Shi, after nearly a month in jail. Seattle Times reporter Sara Jean Green has been covering this story. She gave KUOW’s Paige Browning this update.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Paige Browning: The arson victim, Susan Lisette Klee, was in her home where she lived alone. Firefighters found her close to her back door early on June 4, during the fire. Despite their help, she died a couple of days later. How did police initially identify Letian Shi as the suspect?

Sara Jean Green: From what I understand of the police investigation, they canvassed for surveillance footage from the neighborhood. The footage wasn't great. They couldn't make a clear identification, but had possible suspect, so they worked their way back. Right before the fire at Ms. Klee’s house, there was a rubbish fire at Sun Bear Park, which is a couple of blocks away. At that scene, they found a Dick's bag, from Dick's Drive-In.

Once they found that bag, they got a warrant to search Dick’s surveillance footage, and the transaction history. They identified a possible suspect from surveillance photos, and a transaction from that night, right before midnight. A MasterCard was used to buy two deluxe cheeseburgers. The name on the card was “Shi Letian.” They couldn't find anybody with that name, so they reversed it and searched “Letian Shi.” That's what led them to this young man who was living in the University District.

Shi and his lawyers always maintained that he was innocent. They said the facts in this case just didn't add up. What did the lawyers say police got wrong?

At the time that this document was filed in court, they had not received anything from the state indicating a link between their client and the MasterCard. Police searched Shi's house. They found a variety of debit and credit cards, but no MasterCard. So, we don't know who that card belonged to. Police also took a number of clothing items, but didn't find the blue jacket the guy in the photograph at Dick's wore. According to the attorneys, no jacket was found in the house.

How have Shi's lawyers responded to the charges being dropped?

I don't know yet. I've been in touch with the King County Department of Public Defense. I'm expecting a fuller statement from them this afternoon. But they really outlined in the document filed last week that fingerprints on the Dick's bag, as well as a van, didn't match Shi's. There's the issue of the MasterCard and the reverse name.

The police knew that they were looking for somebody with dark hair. And then, in the document, there's side by side photographs of Shi and the man seen at Dick's. And the defense attorneys outlined, they're like, ‘this is not the same person. These are not the same people.’ They pointed out that Shi has a different hairline, and a more prominent chin, and a wider nose. According to the attorneys, those photographs were omitted from the probable cause statement, which was the basis for the charges. Those photos weren't part of that document when he was initially charged.

Shi’s attorneys are claiming that that was hidden from the court and that it was a racist misidentification, because they were looking for an Asian male, and here they found an Asian male with a reverse name to the name that was on the MasterCard.

Update: In an announcement Monday afternoon, Seattle police asked for tips to help identify the suspect of the house fire. They say Mr. Shi is innocent, and that the real suspect remains at large and could pose a danger.

Mr. Shi's lawyers released the following statement: “As we have maintained from the moment we began investigating Mr. Shi’s case, he is innocent. We share his family’s relief these charges have been dismissed and are so glad that our client is no longer wrongfully incarcerated. He should never have been arrested in the first place, and although his involvement in this tragedy is now rightfully over, the prosecution and police have compounded that tragedy by rushing to arrest and charge our client.

While he remains grounded in his gratitude for the support of his family and the community that has shown up for him throughout this unjustified prosecution, this experience has deeply wounded Mr. Shi. His lack of trust in the criminal legal system has robbed him of his sense of safety, haunted by the fear that he will be taken yet again from his community without reason. We hope that he is able to heal from this traumatic experience in time now that his freedom has been restored and he is once again surrounded by his loving family.”

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.