series of incriminating statements at Lee's trial. The trial court was also faulted for not allowing Lee to withdraw the "coercive change of venue". In addition, key evidence was not provided to Lee's defense attorneys during discovery, including alternative theories for the motive, the existence of percipient witnesses, that some witnesses may have seen the killer exit a tan Cadillac several minutes prior to the shooting, and that some police reports and polygraph results supported Lee's innocence. Inspector Falzon testified that he believed Lee was a gun for hire paid by the Wah Ching to kill Tak after Tak had misappropriated funds from the gang. Several of the potential gunmen in the police lineup were members of the Wah Ching. Falzon's partner, Inspector Jack Cleary, first broached the subject of the "Ski Mask Bandits" during his testimony on June 11, 1974. Some members of the "Ski Mask Bandits" had been arrested in Reno in May 1973 for a bank robbery; Lee was also arrested in Reno for possession of "bait money", marked bills that had been taken during the robbery. In addition, newspaper clippings about the "Ski Mask Bandits" were recovered from Lee's room. The conviction was won in part on the damning testimony of Falzon, who had been invited by the defense to testify about his "knowledge of a motive as to why Mr. Yip Yee Tak was killed"; in the writ of habeas corpus, the San Joaquin Public Defender's Office later stated the defense "counsel had no purpose in 'opening the door' to the rumors, rank gossip, prior arrests, suggestive affilitations, and other grossly prejudicial and patently inadmissible evidence which poured into the case [during Falzon's testimony]. When Deputy District Attorney Lassart completed his 'cross-examination' of Inspector Falzon, the defense lay in shards." Lee testified that he had met his girlfriend at the Fairmont Hotel after her shift ended, at approximately the same time the shooting occurred; the pair walked back to Chinatown via Stockton and ate at a restaurant at Jackson and Grant before returning to his apartment at approximately 11 pm. He said the gunshot on June 2 had occurred while he was cleaning the gun. Lee was convicted of first-degree murder on June 19 and was sentenced to life imprisonment on July 10. His conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District on April 30, 1975. Lee served his sentence at Deuel