Press Release

SON CHARGED IN STABBING DEATH OF MOTHER

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Dennis Cho was arraigned today, accused of murder in the stabbing death of his 59-year-old mother inside their Flushing home.  According to the charges against him, Cho stabbed his mother multiple times in the back.

District Attorney Katz said: “The defendant is charged with the gruesome, cold-blooded stabbing death of his mother, a crime as horrific as can be committed. This was a brutal attack that no family should have to endure.”

Cho, 20, of 191st Street, Flushing, was arraigned on a seven-count indictment charging him with murder in the second degree, two counts of criminal contempt in the first degree, two counts of assault in the third degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and harassment in the second degree. Justice Aloise ordered Cho to return to court on May 3. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.

According to the charges, sometime between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Friday, February 24, Cho was at home with his mother, Hyun Sook Lee, 59, when he stabbed her multiple times in the back, causing her death.

Additionally, the defendant became engaged in an altercation with his father, Seong Woo Cho, 61, which resulted in the father sustaining a laceration to his hand. Cho then began to strangle his father.

Assistant District Attorneys Courtney Charles and Christine Occhiogrosso of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormack III and John W. Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Siranoush Nalbandian of the DA’s Criminal Court Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.

**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.