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Hakamada retracted these statements at his trial, claiming that while he was detained he had been denied food and water, was not allowed to use a toilet, and was kicked and punched. In a letter to his sister he wrote: “…one of the interrogators put my thumb onto an ink-pad, drew it to the written confession record and ordered me, ‘write your name here!’, shouting at me, kicking me and wrenching my arm.” Hakamada had had only three short interviews with different defence lawyers prior to trial.
During his trial by the Shizuoka District Court in 1968, there were numerous inconsistencies in the evidence. Judges raised concerns that purported confessions presented by the Prosecution with Hakamada’s signature were not signed voluntarily. Of these 45 documents, only one was deemed to have been signed voluntarily and the remainder were declared to be inadmissible as evidence.
“I could not convince the other two judges that Hakamada was not guilty so I had to convict him as the decision was made by majority. Personally the fact that I had to write his judgement was against my conscience, something I still think about to this day.” Kumamoto Norimichi, Shizuoka District Court judge, 2007."
Iwao Hakamada was convicted and sentenced to death, and the conviction and sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1980.
https://adpan.org/japan-case-study-hakamada-iwao
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"I could not bear my tortured conscience and so I quit my judgeship the following year [in 1969],” Kumamoto wrote in his petition. “Of course, I understand that I must keep the secrets of the tribunal. But I have been losing my physical and mental strength. I thought that it would be my last chance to bring about the retrial of Hakamada.”
In February 2017, a documentary film In the World of My Dreams describing Hakamada's life since his release was shown at a Gospel and peace gathering sponsored by the Fukuoka Diocese. Kumamoto was there in a wheelchair. The former judge suffers from the effects of a stroke, Parkinson's disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and speech disorders. He can express himself only by saying easy words and crying. Despite that, Kumamoto shouted "Iwao!" three times towards the screen. Guilt and redemption: Kumamoto passed the judge's exam after graduating from law school and was well-known as a human rights judge. However, when he was 30-years-old, he wrote Hakamada's death sentence with tears in his eyes. So, he quit his judgeship and became a lawyer. He also lectured at a college. But Kumamoto's life began to fall apart. He drank to assuage his feelings of guilt. Eventually, he separated from his wife and children and lost his reputation and wealth. He became both mentally and physically ill. He wandered through the country looking for a place to die and tried suicide many times. He even went to a fjord in Norway, intending to kill himself there. In 1995, his license to practice law was revoked. Fortunately, Kumamoto, who was nearly homeless, was helped by Kazuko Shimauchi, an innkeeper, in 2006 in Fukuoka Prefecture. "He was absent-minded both in the house and parks and always hoped to die," said Shimauchi, who continues to help care for Kumamoto who now lives at a nursing home in Fukuoka. "He tried to throw himself into the sea. One day, he jumped into the path of a train and came home covered with blood. I guess his wish to die continued." Sachie Momma, a Catholic social activist who has supported Hakamada for years, said, "Kumamoto wanted to apologize to Hakamada and went to the Tokyo detention center many times but only family members can visit prisoners on death row. Kumamoto was baptized as a Catholic in 2014. "Kumamoto desired baptism because he wanted to approach even a little the thinking of Hakamada who was baptized in prison," Momma said. "I have never seen deep repentance like this," she added. When Hakamada's retrial was decided, Kumamoto, who saw the news on television, raised his hands in delight. Momma called Kumamoto from the front of the Shizuoka District Court on March 27, 2014, that decided Hakamada’s retrial. When she phoned, him she heard him crying until he said with a dignified voice befitting a judge, "We've only gotten started." Hakamada's retrial has yet to be held."
Read the original post at the link below: "Kumamoto's internal struggle over ordering the death of an innocent man was beautifully captured by an anonymous reporter for the U.C.A, News headed, "The Japanese Judge and the Boxer he condemned to death", published on May 2, 2017 and bearing the sub-heading "After issuing sentences Norimichi Kumamoto became a prisoner of his own conscience."
https://selflesswarriors.blogspot.com/2020/08/
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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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