The ruling ends the criminal prosecution without a conventional murder conviction nearly two years after Hyungjoon Choi was killed.
FAIRFAX, Va. — A Fairfax County judge has accepted Steve Taehee Ha’s plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in the fatal shooting of a stranger exercising inside a Reston gym, bringing the closely watched murder case to an unexpected legal conclusion.
Ha was charged after 31-year-old Hyungjoon Choi was shot multiple times at a Gold’s Gym on Sunrise Valley Drive on Aug. 20, 2024. Authorities said the two men were gym members, but investigators and prosecutors never established a relationship between them or publicly identified a motive for the killing.
The insanity finding means Ha will not receive a traditional criminal conviction or prison sentence for the shooting. A plea of not guilty by reason of insanity recognizes that the defendant committed the act but was not legally responsible because of his mental condition at the time. The reviewed reports did not provide full details about the medical findings presented to the court or Ha’s long-term placement.
Choi’s family opposed the outcome and said it came as a shock. Their reaction underscored the divide between the legal standard applied by the court and a grieving family’s expectation that the person who killed their son would be convicted and punished through the criminal system.
The case began after officers were called to the gym shortly before 1:15 p.m. Police said Choi was shot while working out and was taken to a hospital, where he died. Ha left the building after the shooting and was arrested later that day at the Chantilly home he shared with his mother.
At a February 2025 preliminary hearing, a gym trainer testified that Ha entered carrying an over-the-shoulder bag, removed a handgun and fired six to nine times without saying anything. The trainer’s account placed Ha at the center of the shooting, while records presented in court showed he was the last person to check into the facility before the gunfire.
Detectives said they later recovered several guns from Ha’s bedroom, along with ammunition that matched the general type used in the shooting. Defense attorneys argued that the ammunition was common and did not provide a strong link by itself. A judge nevertheless found enough evidence for the case to proceed, and a grand jury later indicted Ha.
Police initially described the shooting as targeted because of the way the gunman approached Choi. That description did not establish that the men knew each other. Investigators found no confirmed prior contact, conversation or dispute between them, leaving one of the case’s central questions unanswered even as the prosecution came to an end.
Ha had originally faced second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The insanity plea replaced the anticipated trial, where prosecutors otherwise would have been required to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt and the defense could have challenged the evidence before a jury.
A person found not guilty by reason of insanity is not necessarily released. Virginia law provides a separate court-supervised process that can involve psychiatric hospitalization, evaluation and periodic review. The specific terms governing Ha’s confinement and any future review were not detailed in the reports available after the judge accepted the plea.
The ruling resolves the question of criminal responsibility but does not answer why Choi was chosen. His family is left with a court outcome that recognizes Ha’s role in the killing while withholding the conventional guilty verdict they had expected.
Author note: Last updated July 19, 2026.