A Pierce County Superior Court jury has found 54-year-old Youngmi Shin guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of her husband, concluding a high-profile trial that centered heavily on domestic violence dynamics and claims of self-defense.
The verdict was returned Monday morning following several days of deliberations by a panel of seven men and five women. Jurors, who began weighing the case late Thursday and deliberated through Friday, chose to acquit Shin of intentional second-degree murder. Instead, they convicted her of felony second-degree murder, concluding that she caused the death of 62-year-old Jay Choi while committing or attempting to commit second-degree assault.
Following the reading of the verdict by Superior Court Judge Shelly K. Moss, Shin bowed her head and became visibly distraught as sheriff’s deputies placed her in handcuffs and escorted her from the Tacoma courtroom. Her sentencing has been tentatively scheduled for Oct. 16.
Immediately after the jury was excused, defense attorney Teymur Askerov made an oral motion seeking an outright acquittal from the bench. Askerov argued that prosecutors had failed to produce sufficient proof to convince a rational juror beyond a reasonable doubt, emphasizing that the state had not overcome Shin’s affirmative defense of self-defense.
Judge Moss denied the defense motion, declining to overturn the jury's finding. While acknowledging conflicting testimony regarding the physical struggle, Moss ruled that the record contained ample circumstantial evidence from which jurors could reasonably conclude that Shin’s actions went beyond lawful self-defense.
The homicide occurred on Nov. 27, 2024, the eve of Thanksgiving, inside the couple’s Parkland residence. Choi, a local business owner, died after sustaining a single, severe knife wound during an altercation that defense attorneys and prosecutors characterized in starkly different terms.
Shin had been detained at the Pierce County Jail on a $1 million bail for nearly two years leading up to the trial. Her prolonged period of pretrial custody drew significant attention and criticism from advocates for domestic abuse survivors and criminal justice reform groups, who maintained that she was being unfairly penalized for defending herself against an abusive spouse.
The case also involved contentious legal disputes regarding the conduct of law enforcement investigators. Prior to the trial, Judge Moss barred prosecutors from utilizing Shin’s statements to detectives in their case-in-chief, after the defense successfully argued that Pierce County Sheriff’s Office investigators had coerced remarks during a two-hour interrogation while ignoring her repeated requests for legal representation.
During closing arguments, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Park urged the jury to view the fatal stabbing as an intentional act of aggression spurred by an argument over divorce. Prosecutors asserted that Choi was targeted from behind in a detached workshop behind the couple's home while attempting to summon police assistance.
According to the state, Choi had placed an emergency 911 call reporting that his wife was assaulting him. Prosecutors stated that the call was abruptly cut short when Shin thrust a blade through three layers of clothing and 6.4 inches deep into Choi's back, puncturing an artery and causing Choi to utter a sound of surprise before the line went quiet.
Park argued to the jury that the physical trajectory and depth of the wound contradicted a sudden, face-to-face defensive maneuver, telling jurors that plunging a blade so deeply into someone's back indicated purposeful force rather than an instinctive pushback against an oncoming assailant.
In contrast, Shin took the witness stand to recount a violent, escalating confrontation that she testified moved from outside into the main residence. Shin stated that Choi dropped the phone, followed her inside, and aggressively demanded her mobile device and his vehicle keys before physically overpowering her.
Shin testified that Choi pushed her against a living room wall, punched and kicked her, uttered death threats, and dragged her into the kitchen by her hair. Describing a state of panic, Shin told jurors she initially grabbed a knife and begged Choi to end her life before turning it toward herself; after being struck to the floor and losing that weapon, she testified she seized another knife and swung it in self-defense as Choi continued his assault.
Defense attorney Christopher Black bolstered the defense's position by referencing the trial testimony of Dr. Karla Fischer, a domestic violence expert with 30 years of research experience. Fischer explained to the jury how individuals trapped in abusive relationships develop an acute awareness of behavioral patterns and warning signs that signal impending, severe violence.
Black emphasized to the jury that Shin had endured years of behavioral patterns in which Choi would consume alcohol, become enraged, and carry out progressively violent assaults. That extensive history, the defense argued, shaped Shin's perception of mortal danger on the night of the confrontation, causing her to react to save her own life during a violent struggle.
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