GIST: "Public prosecutors plan to file a special appeal against the most recent high court decision for a retrial of an 87-year-old man convicted in a high-profile 1966 multiple murder case, informed sources said Thursday.
On Monday, the Tokyo High Court decided to reopen the case after the Supreme Court in December 2020 canceled the high court’s previous ruling rejecting the retrial plea by Iwao Hakamata and send the case back. The decision was regarded as an acquittal ruling.
If the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor’s Office actually brings the appeal to the Supreme Court by the deadline on next Monday, the top court will have to examine again whether Hakamata should be retried or not, although nearly 15 years have passed since he filed the second retrial petition in 2008.
The death sentence for him over the murder case in Shizuoka Prefecture was finalized in 1980.
In the case, four members of the family of an executive of a miso company were killed. Hakamata was a worker of the company.
In 2014, Shizuoka District Court granted a retrial, and Hakamata was released. But the ruling was overturned by Tokyo High Court in 2018.
In its latest ruling, the high court pointed to the possibility of the most crucial evidence having been effectively fabricated by investigative authorities.
Later, the high public prosecutor’s office said in a comment that the ruling was regrettable.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/17/national/crime-legal/iwao-hakamata-retrial-appeal/PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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