Lawyers ask Gwinnett judge to throw out murder case

Attoeys for three suspects accused of killing a Duluth man asked a judge to dismiss the case against them. 

Yeoh-Tae Kang Hill, Dong Ho Shin, and Seung Won Lee are charged with felony murder.

Duluth police say on Dec. 8, a passerby found a man lying in the parking lot of a restaurant on Pleasant Hill Road. When police responded, they found 32-year-old Kwang Ko lying in a pool of blood.

”I could see he had a stab wound to his side and his throat had been cut, said Sgt. William Petty of the Duluth Police Department.

The killing happened outside an all-night Korean restaurant that doesn't close until 6 a.m. Investigators said a taxi driver witnessed four men attacking another.

Petty testified that police later identified Hill, Shin, Lee and a fourth suspect, Doosang Park, after cellphone photos of them were passed around identifying them as the killers during Ko’s funeral.

"I asked, 'Could he get me the pictures?' So he called somebody and had the pictures sent to us, Petty said. Police issued warrants for Hill, Shin, Lee and Park, who has since fled to Korea.

Attoeys wanted the case dismissed because they say the witness can’t identify the men directly. They say the police have yet to locate a murder weapon and have no other physical evidence.

The judge determined there was sufficient probable cause to allow the case to proceed to Superior Court since the men admitted to being in the parking lot and police say blood was found inside one of the suspect’s vehicles.

The judge did not set a hearing date on Wednesday.