PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Hakamada initially denied having robbed and murdered the victims but confessed following what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings. Central to the trial was a set of blood-stained clothes found in a tank of miso - fermented soybean paste - a year after the 1966 murders, used as evidence to incriminate Hakamada. The defence accused investigators of a set-up, as the red stains on the clothes were too bright, but prosecutors said their own experiments showed the colour was credible."
---------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Japan court acquits longest-serving death row prisoner Iwao Hakamada," reported by AFP (Agence France Press) on September 26, 2024.
GIST: "The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted by a Japanese court on Thursday, more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
The Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago.
“The court finds the defendant innocent,” Judge Koshi Kunii said.
Hakamada’s health is delicate and he was not present in court, but his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who often speaks for him, bowed deeply to Kunii several times.
Until he was freed in 2014 pending retrial, Hakamada had been on death row for 46 years after being convicted of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children.
But over the years, questions arose over fabricated evidence and coerced confessions, sparking scrutiny of Japan’s justice system, which critics say holds suspects “hostage”.
Hundreds of people had queued in the morning at the Shizuoka District Court, trying to secure a seat for the verdict in the murder saga that has gripped the nation.
“For so long, we have fought a battle that has felt endless,” Hideko had told reporters in July.
“But this time, I believe it will be settled.”
Fighting ‘every day’
Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment, a policy that has broad public support.
Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exoneration.
After decades of detention, mostly in solitary confinement, Hakamada sometimes seems like he “lives in a world of fantasy”, according to his lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa.
Speaking to AFP in 2018, Hakamada underlined his ongoing battle to obtain an acquittal, saying he felt he was “fighting a bout every day”.
“Once you think you can’t win, there is no path to victory,” he said.
Outside the court, Hakamada’s supporters held flags and banners calling for a not-guilty verdict.
Atsushi Zukeran, wearing a T-shirt saying “Free Hakamada Now”, told AFP he was “absolutely certain he will be acquitted” due to the qualms over the evidence.
But given how long the affair has dragged on, with Hakamada maintaining his innocence throughout, “part of me wouldn’t be able to celebrate the acquittal entirely”, Zukeran said.
“His case is a painful reminder of how Japan’s criminal justice system must change,” he added.
Blood and miso
Although the Supreme Court upheld Hakamada’s death sentence in 1980, his supporters fought for decades to have the case reopened.
A turning point came in 2014 when a retrial was granted on the grounds that prosecutors could have planted evidence, and Hakamada was released from prison.
Legal wrangling, including a pushback by prosecutors, meant it took until last year for the retrial to begin.
Hakamada initially denied having robbed and murdered the victims but confessed following what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.
Central to the trial was a set of blood-stained clothes found in a tank of miso - fermented soybean paste - a year after the 1966 murders, used as evidence to incriminate Hakamada.
The defence accused investigators of a set-up, as the red stains on the clothes were too bright, but prosecutors said their own experiments showed the colour was credible.
In Japan, death row prisoners are notified of their hanging only a few hours in advance.
As of December, 107 prisoners were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out. It is always done by hanging.
Hakamada’s case is “just one of countless examples of Japan’s so-called ‘hostage justice’ system”, Teppei Kasai, Asia programme officer for Human Rights Watch, told AFP.
“Suspects are forced to confess through long and arbitrary periods of detention” and there is often “intimidation during interrogation”, he said."
The entire story can be read at:
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;
—————————————————————————————————
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;
