28 Sep 2006

Man convicted of enslaving his workers in American Samoa goes back to court

6:58 am on 28 September 2006

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled a hearing in November to review the appeal by Kil Soo Lee, the owner of the closed American Samoa garment factory, Daewoosa Samoa.

Lee was sentenced by the federal court in Honolulu in June last year to 40 years in prison for enslaving, starving and beating more than 200 Asian workers at the factory.

He was also ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.

Lee's Honolulu attorney, Earle Partington, filed the appeal in February on the grounds that the federal court in Honolulu has no jurisdiction to hear crimes that occurred in American Samoa, and that the case should have been heard in Pagopago.

The appeal will be heard on November 13th at the federal court in Honolulu.