While Toyota is being interrogated in the courts, after their recent recall, others may be getting off the hook with the court systems. Toyota’s recall might just be the factor that determines between the guilty and the innocent, the free, and the imprisoned.

Recently Toyota has recalled nearly 8.5 million vehicles that pose a threat of uncontrollable acceleration, as the acceleration pedal has been known to become stuck in the wide open position. The company has identified that there are two problems at stake, a problem with the floor mats interfering with the acceleration pedal, and a problem with the pedal itself.

This very recall may just set Koua Fong Lee, of St. Paul Minneapolis, free from prison. In 2006 Koua Fong Lee’s 1996 Toyota Camry failed to stop on an interstate ramp, resulting in the death of three people. In 2007 he was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Lee’s once “closed case,” and many cases like his, have been drawing new attention with the possibility that vehicles involved in the incidences may have been affected by the acceleration. It is not for certain if the case will be reopened but the odds are certainly in Lee’s favor. In the meantime Lee, a father of four, is remaining very hopeful that the Toyota recall will be his very own get out of jail card.

Men and women around the country find themselves in the same position as Lee, convicted of vehicular homicide, and convinced that they did everything in their power to control their out of control Toyota vehicles. As unfair as it may sound, it is the reality. Due to the mistakes made by a company like Toyota innocent men and women sit in prison convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Families who once persecuted people like Lee for the deaths of their loved ones are now filing lawsuits against Toyota, to earn justice for those who were killed. In the past several weeks Toyota has kindly shown great remorse for those killed by result of their faulty automobiles, giving apology after apology. It is with high hopes that Toyota, and the justice system, also recognize and give justification to those whose lives have been ruined in a different way. A great deal of justice is needed to be served to those victims or conviction due to Toyota’s big mistake.