A former New York businessman whose arson-murder conviction was overturned in the death of his daughter was freed from prison Friday after 24 years behind bars, following a judge's ruling that the case against him had been based on now-debunked arson science. 
 
 FILE - This undated file photo shows Han Tak Lee in Pennsylvania. After 24 years in prison, a U.S. district judge vacated Lee's state conviction and sentence on Friday, Aug. 8, 2014, agreeing with a magistrate's... (Associated Press) 
 
 Han Tak Lee, 79, was released from the maximum-security state prison at Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, and was en route to a federal court hearing to determine the conditions of his release. 
 
 "It is great news for everybody," said Kyung Sohn, a longtime supporter who went with a pastor to pick him up and take him to court, under arrangements approved by a federal magistrate. 
 
 Several dozen friends, family members and supporters were expected to greet him at the federal courthouse in Harrisburg, the state capital. 
 
 U.S. District Judge William Nealon threw out Lee's state conviction and sentence of life without parole earlier this month and gave prosecutors 120 days to decide whether they want to retry him in the 1989 death of his daughter, 20-year-old Ji Yun Lee. 
 
 Prosecutors have said they probably will appeal Nealon's decision. They have conceded the arson science used to convict Lee was faulty but insist that other evidence points to his guilt. 
 
 Though he's spent nearly a third of his life behind bars, Lee — a native of South Korea who became a U.S. citizen about 30 years ago — has never expressed any bitterness toward his adopted country, his attorney said Thursday. 
 
 "He doesn't hold this against the United States of America," said Peter Goldberger, who has worked on Lee's case for about 15 years. 
 
 Goldberger also said Lee has no plans to return to South Korea. 
 
 "He's an American," Goldberger said. "He said this is his home." 
 
 Lee is expected to live in an apartment for senior citizens in Queens, New York, where he once lived and owned a clothing store, while prosecutors decide their next move. 
 
 Lee has long argued that the 1989 fire that killed his mentally ill daughter at a religious retreat in the Pocono Mountains was accidental. In 2012, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted his request for an independent examination of evidence. That review, completed in June by a magistrate judge, concluded that "much of what was presented to Lee's jury as science is now conceded to be little more than superstition." 
 
 At the time of his trial, investigators were taught that unusually hot and intense fires indicated the use of an accelerant and that arson could be confirmed by the presence of deep charring or shiny blistering of wood as well as "crazed glass," tiny fractures in windows. Research has since debunked these and other notions about arson. 
 
 Lee's case is one of dozens around the country to come under scrutiny because of outdated beliefs about how arson can be detected. 
 
 Goldberger said Thursday he would oppose any appeal of the judge's ruling to throw out the conviction and "seek to have it declared frivolous and dismissed." 
 
 Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine Jr., who prosecuted Lee in 1990, did not return a phone message seeking comment. 
 
 If he loses an appeal, Christine could seek to prosecute Lee again, but he has acknowledged it would be very difficult given the passage of time. Lee's supporters expect he will live out his remaining years in freedom. 

 A federal judge has ordered Han Tak Lee released from prison pending a possible new trial in the 1989 arson death of Lee's mentally ill daughter at a Stroud Township church camp. 
 
 U.S. District Judge William J. Nealon's ordered the release Tuesday, about two weeks after adopting the recommendations of a federal magistrate who found Lee's conviction had been based on junk science. 
 
 Nealon assigned a magistrate judge in Harrisburg to determine the conditions of Lee's release, which could happen as early as Wednesday. 
 
 The Monroe County district attorney's office still can attempt to retry Lee, 79, of Queens, N.Y. 
 
 Lee in 1990 was sentenced to life without parole for the July 29, 1989, death of Ji Yun Lee, who was 20. 
 
 District Attorney David Christine said the scientific principles used to investigate the fire and convict Lee remain sound. But so far, the federal courts have found that much of what was presented to the jury was "little more than superstition." 
 
 On his pastor's advice, Lee in 1989 took his daughter to Camp Hebron, a religious retreat in the Poconos, to help her mental health, according to court findings. It was there she died in a fire. 
 
 Lee was owner of a New York City clothing store.
– In 1990, Han Tak Lee was convicted of murdering his daughter. Now, almost a quarter-century later, a judge says the 79-year-old's conviction rested on a scientific inaccuracy—and the former New York businessman is finally out of prison, the AP reports. According to a review of his case finished in June, "much of what was presented to Lee's jury as science is now conceded to be little more than superstition." But Lee, who was initially sentenced to life without parole, the Morning Call notes, is not entirely out of the woods: Prosecutors say that there's more evidence against him, and they're likely to appeal. Prosecutors have 120 days to make their decision. For his part, Lee holds that a fire in the Pocono Mountains which resulted in his daughter's death was an accident, the AP notes. But investigators decades ago believed the fire was arson due to its intensity, which was once thought to indicate that an accelerant was used. Other features left in wood and windows after the fire were also seen as evidence of arson, but this is no longer considered accurate. The case is one of many facing renewed attention due to changes in the way arson is identified.