“I don’t care if you arrest me for burglary. For kidnapping. For anything. I’m sixty-one years old and I’ve been dying of cancer for two years. I’ve got maybe three months left. But I wasn’t going to die knowing that monster was still hurting kids.”
He looked at me. “Your honor, David Chen is innocent. You sent an innocent man to prison for life. His daughter died trying to protect herself and other kids from a predator. And that predator is still coaching tennis to forty-three kids right now.”
Three hours later, James Bradley was arrested at the tennis academy. They found thousands of images on his computer. Videos. Evidence of assault on fourteen different children over three years. Ashley Chen was one of them.
The forensics team re-examined Ashley’s murder. Found Bradley’s DNA under her fingernails that had been explained away as “transfer from tennis lessons.” Found that the head trauma matched a tennis racket, not David Chen’s fists. Found that the timeline only worked if Bradley had killed her.
David Chen was released that night. He collapsed when they told him the truth. His daughter had died protecting other kids. Died because she was brave enough to say no to a monster.
Robert was arrested for kidnapping, burglary, and extortion. But at his arraignment, I recused myself and spoke as a witness instead of a judge.
“Robert Mitchell saved my daughter’s life,” I testified. “He saved six other children. He exposed a serial predator who murdered a six-year-old girl. He did what the system failed to do. What I failed to do.”Continue reading…
