Two former Plymouth County prosecutors have their careers on the line after a Board of Bar Overseers hearing panel found “unacceptable” misconduct on their part in a case that put a Brockton High School senior behind bars for 17 years for a crime she didn’t commit.
“We are mainly struck by how seriously the respondents’ misconduct undermined the integrity and reputation of prosecutors in this Commonwealth,” BBO hearing committee members Payal Salsburg and Melina McTigue Garland wrote in their report. “We cannot minimize the harm to the integrity of our legal system and the administration of justice when the motivations and biases of prosecutors become news.”
They added that the “unacceptable” behavior illustrated terrible judgment and a complete disregard for the high standards a prosecutor should meet.”
It took prosecutors John Bradley Jr. and Karen O’Sullivan three tries to convict Frances Choy on charges that she set fire to her Brockton home in the early hours of April 17, 2003, to burn her parents alive as they slept.
They secured a conviction in 2011 and Choy was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole — a conviction overturned in 2020 when misconduct first came to light.
During the trials, according to a Board of Bar Overseers report, the prosecutors were engaging in misconduct that included withholding exculpatory evidence and demonstrating racial bias against the defendant in emails.
“When the prosecutors’ actions give even the impression of bias, when defendants are not treated with dignity or respect, when prosecutors do not ensure they are playing by the rules and disclosing exculpatory evidence as required, the public is left to question whether the promise of a fair trial has been fulfilled.”
All three BBO members recommended sanctions that “must make clear to the bar and to the public the serious and repugnant nature of their misconduct.”
Salzburg and Garland recommended a one-year suspension for Bradley, the lead prosecutor in the trials, and a two-year suspension for O’Sullivan, who served as second-chair. They note that they urge the bar “to consider higher sanctions, if possible.”
O’Sullivan’s recommended suspension is longer in dispute, as she was the junior prosecutor and had prepared the lead investigator for his trial testimony. This meant she would have had access to his file, which included exculpatory information not shared with the defense, according to the report.
The third BBO member, Charles Bobbish, agreed to sanctions but recommended that O’Sullivan be indefinitely suspended for her behavior.
The fire and the trials
Choy, then a 17-year-old Brockton High School honors student, and her 16-year-old nephew Sung Ching “Kenneth” Choy, were indicted separately in June 2023 for the murder of Yiu “Jimmy” Choy, 64, and his wife Nu Trinh “Anne” Choy, 53.
The murdered couple were Frances Choy’s parents, whereas Kenneth Choy was Jimmy Choy’s grandchild who had come to live with them in 2000 when his mother in Hong Kong could no longer afford to care for him, according to court documents.
Firefighters arrived a little before 5 a.m. and heard the teens yelling from an upstairs window for help and that the adults were trapped inside, according to contemporary Herald reporting. Firefighters rescued them through the window but found the adults unconscious. Anne Choy would die that night from burns and smoke inhalation, while Jimmy Choy would hang on for a bit longer before also dying.
The fire was deemed suspicious and police found a note in Kenneth Choy’s bedroom with a point-by-point plan for the arson, according to Herald reporting. That included tasks like “get gas,” “pour gas in bottles,” “fire up the basement,” “fire up grandfather’s room” and “wait for cops.”
The trials
Frances Choy and Kenneth Choy were tried separately. Frances Choy’s first trial ended in a mistrial on Jan. 24, 2008. Kenneth Choy’s trial began four days later and he was acquitted on Feb. 1, 2008.
Prosecutors arranged an immunity deal for Kenneth Choy to testify against Frances Choy in her second trial, working on the idea the pair had worked together in the murder, according to the BBO report. He testified against Frances in her second trial but jurors once again failed to reach a verdict.
Kenneth Choy fled to Hong Kong ahead of Frances Choy’s third trial, but his previous testimony against her was read in court and Bradley and O’Sullivan secured a conviction and Frances Choy was sentenced to two life terms.
Her case was looked into by the Boston College Innocence Program, which worked to secure that her conviction and sentence was vacated “on evidence of innocence and prosecutorial racism.”
Trial Judge Linda Giles vacated Choy’s conviction and sentence in September 2020. She noted in her order that the emails between Bradley and O’Sullivan exhibited “anti-Asian bias against (Choy), her family, and all Asian-Americans” and that had she been aware of these “racially and sexually degrading emails,” she would have declared a mistrial.” She further found that the prosecutors had introduced false testimony and failed to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense.
“Nothing can erase the pain of losing my parents and how they suffered. I miss them every day. Even in prison I tried to live my life in a way that honored them,” Frances Choy told Boston College Law School Magazine after her conviction was vacated. “I’m relieved that the truth has been revealed and to have my life back beyond prison walls.”
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