Tag: Nan-Hui Jo

Lawyer: Botched Jury Instructions Led to Wrongful Kidnapping Conviction for DV Survivor | #StandWithNanHui

Posted By Jenn

Nan-Hui Jo reacts to the guilty verdict in her trial last month. (Photo credit: Randy Pench / Sacramento Bee)
Nan-Hui Jo reacts to the guilty verdict in her trial last month. (Photo credit: Randy Pench / Sacramento Bee)

There have been major developments in the case of Nan-Hui Jo, the Korean American survivor of domestic violence who fled with her young child to Korea to escape a dangerous and abusive relationship, only to face kidnapping charges when she returned to the United States for a visit.

Earlier this year, Jo was retried on charges that she kidnapped her daughter — her first trial ended in a hung jury. Jo’s abuser, who is her daughter’s father, claims that Jo’s escape to Korea violated his parental access. Yet, at the time of Jo’s departure, she was facing loss of legal immigration status and was facing deportation. Jo’s abuser, Jesse Charlton — an Iraq war veteran — confessed that at the time he was unemployed, emotionally unstable due to largely untreated PTSD and substance abuse, and was not prepared to assume full-time custody of their daughter. Facing the possibility that she would become an undocumented immigrant (and therefore unable to obtain work) and fearing for her and her daughter’s safety if they remained within Charlton’s influence, Nan-Hui Jo did what conservatives dream of: she “self-deported” with her child.

Continue reading “Lawyer: Botched Jury Instructions Led to Wrongful Kidnapping Conviction for DV Survivor | #StandWithNanHui”

An Open Letter To Nan-Hui Jo | #DearNanHui #StandWithNanHui #Not1More

Posted By Jenn

Dear Nan Hui campaign

Today, the Stand With Nan-Hui group launched a letter-writing campaign urging supporters to write letters of support to and for Nan-Hui Jo, who was recently found guilty of child abduction for escaping an abusive relationship with her daughter. This is my letter to Nan-Hui Jo; you are invited to write yours. 

Dear Nan-Hui,

You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. In many ways, our stories are different. I am ethnically Chinese, not Korean. My first language is English. I have not (yet) been married. I am not (yet) a mother.

But in many ways, our stories are similar. Like you, I am an immigrant and an Asian American woman. Like you, I’ve had to navigate the complex web of U.S. immigration law just to maintain my life here, and like you, I’ve felt the fear that comes with the possibility of falling out of status. Like you, I’ve lain awake at night terrified that I have run out of options; that I am trapped; that there’s nobody who will help, or will even understand what’s happening.

I can only imagine how much harder trying to survive U.S. immigration law would be when also a survivor of domestic violence. As immigrants and women of colour and with already so few options available, I can only imagine what it’s like to have the possibilities further limited by having to secure not only your own physical safety, but also the physical safety of your child.

They say that domestic abuse is about exerting power. I think it is about weaponizing fear.

Continue reading “An Open Letter To Nan-Hui Jo | #DearNanHui #StandWithNanHui #Not1More”

Guilty Verdict Handed Down to Domestic Violence Survivor | #StandWithNanHui

Posted By Jenn

nan-hui

Last week, I wrote about Nan-Hui Jo’s case. A survivor of years of domestic violence at the hands of her former partner which included both physical and emotional abuse, Nan-Hui Jo escaped with her daughter Hwi to South Korea after her American work visa expired. After six years, Jo applied for a travel visa to allow her American-born child travel to the United States to tour schools while Jo’s own permanent resident application was pending.

However, Jo’s former partner, Jesse Charlton, had filed child abduction charges against Jo, and when Jo arrived in America, she was arrested. After her first trial ended in a hung jury, Jo was retried last month with additional threats of deportation added by ICE while Jo’s former partner was awarded full custody of their child.

Continue reading “Guilty Verdict Handed Down to Domestic Violence Survivor | #StandWithNanHui”