Public Nudity, Marijuana Use May Factor Into Alleged Murder

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Garritt Howard ruled Friday that lawyers can subpoena medical, mental health and school records of Paul Koh. The former Northbrook resident was found stabbed to death April 16, 2009, in the doorway of the Birch Road home where he lived with his parents.

Koh’s father, Hyungseok, is charged in the slaying and has been in jail since Northbrook police arrested him in April 2009. Hyungseok Koh, 58, has pleaded not guilty, though he allegedly confessed to killing his 22-year-old son while in police custody, according to court documents. 

In their motion to subpoena records, defense attorneys argued that there was “significant evidence” to show “that Paul Koh’s medical and mental health may have had a direct impact on his death.” The lawyers from the firm of Jenner & Block cited testimony from pastors at a church the Koh family attended, from a friend of Paul Koh and from neighbors. The lawyers said the records could provide evidence that the murder was in fact a suicide or reveal another possible suspect. They also contend the documents would cast light on the relationship between father and son.

State prosecutors, however, wrote in their response to the motion that the request was “highly invasive” particularly because “the individual is deceased and has no opportunity to object or defend his name.” They also emphasized the fact that a medical examiner ruled Paul's death a homicide, not a suicide.

Both prosecution and defense attorneys are under a “gag order,” meaning that they are prohibited from speaking to members of the press.

Reports of strained relationship between father and son

As evidence to subpoena records, Hyungseok Koh’s attorneys cited an interview police conducted with Joon Shik Hwang, a youth pastor at New Life Church in Palatine. Hwang, who was interviewed a few hours after Paul Koh's death, said he had known Paul since about 1999, and that Paul had been a member of the church’s youth group since 2004.

Hwang said Paul began smoking marijuana and skipping class about three years before his 2009 death and eventually dropped out of Western Illinois University. He also told police that Paul hadn’t gotten along with his father since childhood, and described Hyungseok Koh as having “a temper problem,” according to police reports.

In another interview with police the day after the slaying, Paul's uncle, Steven Cho, confirmed the tense relationship between father and son. Cho described Hyungseok as a hard worker who immigrated to the U.S. with his wife and Paul’s older sister, Helen, in the mid 1980s. In contrast, he described Paul as smart but lazy and unmotivated—and said the clash in work ethics strained father-son relations.  

Paul began meeting with his youth pastor around 2006, after his parents expressed their concerns to Hwang. In December 2008, Paul told Hwang that he wanted to clean up his life and began meeting with the pastor weekly. Paul also started taking classes part-time at Oakton Community College, although he still partied and got high or drunk frequently, according to Hwang. In January 2009, he enrolled in Trinity College in Deerfield but stopped going to class after just a few weeks.

In addition to his meetings with Paul, Hwang was also in frequent contact with the parents, Hyungseok and his wife, Eunsook. They met about once a week to discuss Paul and spoke on the phone even more frequently in the two months preceding Paul’s death, Hwang said.

About two weeks before the alleged slaying, Hwang created a behavioral contract for Paul and his parents. The pact stipulated that Paul would go to work three days out of the week and do church activities another three days. If he didn’t abide by it, Paul would have to go to a treatment center. 

Hyungseok was frustrated and angry with his son's behavior, Hwang told police, recalling an incident in March 2009 when the two got into an altercation. Hwang was called to the Koh house that day after Paul returned home very early in the morning. When Hwang arrived, Paul had locked himself in his room while his father yelled for him to open the door. When Paul finally opened the door, the two men began tackled each other, Hwang said.

According to Hwang, Hyungseok told him, “I lost it. I wrestled with him.”

Sister Says Her Brother Was ‘Struggling With the Devil’

As evidence for their motion to subpoena records, the defense attorneys also said that Paul's sister, a friend and his youth pastor, among other witnesses, had reported possible mental health problems. According to court documents, Hwang said that Paul Koh “was ashamed of himself” and “struggled with shyness, depression, low confidence and low self-esteem.” Hwang also reported that Paul told him, “I don’t want to live sometimes. I don’t like myself,” although he also said Paul never directly threatened to harm himself. When Paul’s parents first contacted Hwang about their son, the pastor referred Paul to a counselor in private practice to deal with mental health issues.

Paul’s older sister, Helen, 29, described her brother’s problems in similar terms. In an interview with police the day after his death, she said he was “struggling with the devil” and he had told her that he was hearing voices.

On Paul’s birthday in December 2008, he told his sister that he needed a gun to kill the voices in his head, according to police reports.

Helen Koh also said that her brother was struggling with several drugs, mostly marijuana.  

Marijuana was in the mix the night Paul died, according to his friend Richard Yen. Around 11 p.m. that night, Paul met up with Yen and three other friends at the Taco Bell on Waukegan Road in Glenview, according to police reports.

Yen told police that Paul and the group then went to one of the friend's home to smoke marijuana. Yen said when Paul left with a bag of pot, he thought that Hyungseok Koh “would kill him if he was caught with the marijuana in his residence,” according to the police report.

Yen also told police that he thought Paul had seemed depressed lately. Since high school, he said, Paul kept his feelings to himself. He also told police that he thought Paul was afraid of his father because every time his father called, Paul would stop what he was doing and leave right away.

Neighbors Describe Strange Behavior, Including Public Nudity

Friends and family were not the only people who noticed Paul's behavior, according to lawyers for Hyungseok Koh. Neighbors also reported some bizarre incidents.

One of those neighbors was Patrick Kerrigan, who testified during pretrial proceedings in June 2010. Kerrigan said that about two weeks before the death, Paul knocked on his front door around midnight and asked if he could stay. Kerrigan said he had never met Paul before, although he had spoken to his father a couple of times. What was even stranger about the incident, however, was the fact that Paul “was totally naked,” according to Kerrigan.

On St. Patrick’s Day 2009, one month before Paul's death, Birch Road resident Sean McWilliams reported a similar incident. He told police that someone rang his doorbell just before midnight. When he opened the door, he saw “a male Asian, in his 20s, approximately 5-foot-8, slightly overweight and nude,” according to police.

The nude man “calmly” told McWilliams that someone had stolen his keys and clothes and asked to borrow some clothing. When McWilliams told the man on his front doorstep that he would call police, the man walked away.

“Evidence suggests that in the time period leading up to his death, Paul Koh was depressed, perhaps deranged or schizophrenic, and sometimes out of touch with reality,” defense attorneys wrote.

Lawyers from both sides can now access documents from any doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists who treated Paul Koh, as well relevant records from the schools he attended: Glenbrook North High School, Western Illinois University, Oakton Community College, Kishwaukee College and Trinity International University.

The case was continued by agreement at last Friday’s hearing and a status hearing was set for April 6 at Cook County Circuit Court in Skokie.