The son of a beloved Lehman College professor who died after an Upper West Side mugging told his father’s killer in court Thursday that he had finally forgiven him — after the two met in person.
“I can’t choose how much I hurt, but I can choose how much I hate — and I choose to not hate you anymore,” said Jinsoo Kim, standing behind a podium in Manhattan Supreme Court, as Matthew Lee was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
“I forgive you,” he said looking directly at Lee.
On May 13, 2018, Lee attacked Young Kun Kim, 87 — trying to snatch money the victim had just withdrawn from an ATM on Broadway near W. 97th St.
Kim resisted and, during an ensuing struggling, fell and hit his head. Lee fled with $300 — and Kim died days later from bleeding in his brain.
Lee, 52, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and first-degree robbery.
As part of a plea agreement, Lee participated in a face-to-face meeting with Jinsoo in the presence of a mediator last month. The restorative justice program encourages victims and their families to engage directly with the person who has wronged them.
“I am glad that I had heard your words directly, not filtered through lawyers,” Jinsoo told Lee at the sentencing. “I believe you when you say that you are sorry.”
Jinsoo said that as he learned more about Lee’s life, his anger at him turned to sorrow for him. The defendant had no prior record. He lost his father in 2013 and his mother in 2014, and grew desperate after he fell behind on his rent.
Jinsoo described his father, a political philosophy professor who taught at Lehman for 50 years, as “the nicest person.”
Kim lived under the Japanese occupation of Korea and saw the horrors of the Korean War firsthand, Jinsoo said. He had planned on writing a book about the small happinesses in life that are often overlooked.
“I am still sad that my daughter will never meet my father,” Jinsoo told the court, as tears streamed down his cheeks. “I’m sad that I never got to hear my dad’s voice one last time. I’m sad that he never got to write his book.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement that it was the first time his office had used the program for a homicide. He called the restorative justice meetings “a meaningful way to empower survivors while offering both parties an opportunity to engage, understand, heal and move forward.”