ALERT: Texas scheduled Robert Roberson's execution for Oct. 16 — sign petition now
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The court said the prosecutors realized during the initial trial that there was a discrepancy in the testimony, in which an acquaintance testified seeing "Mr. Maekawa with blood" on the same day he was watching a specific TV show. Given the prosecutors knew the show was broadcast on a different day the "assertions were factually incorrect." "If the prosectors had exposed the mistake, there was a sufficient possibility of an acquittal in the high court," the judge said, condemning them for being "dishonest" and engaging in "sinful injustice that is absolutely unacceptable." In delivering the ruling, the judge apologized to Maekawa, saying, "I am sorry for the great hardship you endured over the past 39 years."
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SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Maekawa expressed his joy after hearing the ruling himself. "I have finally proven my innocence. I am not only overwhelmed with emotion, but also relieved," he told a press conference, urging prosecutors not to appeal.
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The ruling is expected to influence discussions on Japan's retrial system, which has faced criticism that the process of overturning wrongful convictions is excessively prolonged, due in part to the lack of provisions on the disclosure of evidence held by prosecutors. Only after being strongly urged by the court did prosecutors disclose they were aware of the flaw in the testimony from the initial trial regarding the TV show. The disclosure followed the second retrial request from Maekawa. In Hakamata's case, it took 42 years after first applying for a retrial to reopen the 1966 murder case. Hakamata spent nearly half a century on death row before he was released in March 2014, after new evidence raised doubts about his conviction."
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STORY: "Japan court acquits man of 1986 schoolgirl murder in retrial," published by Kyodo News (no attribution) on July 18, 2025.
KANAZAWA, Japan - A man who served seven years in prison for the 1986 murder of a junior high school student was acquitted Friday in a retrial, with a Japanese high court dismissing the credibility of the testimony of his acquaintances that led to his initial guilty verdict.
In the ruling handed down on 60-year-old Shoshi Maekawa over the murder of a teenage girl in Fukui, central Japan, the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court acknowledged the possibility of the police having led witnesses and accused prosecutors of withholding key information that could have led to an earlier acquittal.
The case is the latest high-profile acquittal in Japan following that of 89-year-old Iwao Hakamata who was exonerated last year over a 1966 quadruple murder in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The focus of the retrial in Maekawa's case -- given the lack of any direct evidence linking him to the murder -- centered on the credibility of a witness statement from one of the acquaintances who claimed to have seen him wearing blood-stained clothes.
Presiding Judge Keisuke Masuda pointed to "reasonable doubt that testimony was shaped through an undue act" by the police, who at that time were struggling with the lack of progress in the investigation, such as asking leading questions to Maekawa's acquaintances.
Maekawa was accused of murdering the 15-year-old girl at her home in March 1986, but had pleaded not guilty since his arrest in 1987. The Fukui District Court acquitted him in 1990, but the Kanazawa branch overturned the decision and found him guilty by diminished capacity in 1995, a ruling that was later finalized.
The court said the prosecutors realized during the initial trial that there was a discrepancy in the testimony, in which an acquaintance testified seeing "Mr. Maekawa with blood" on the same day he was watching a specific TV show. Given the prosecutors knew the show was broadcast on a different day the "assertions were factually incorrect."
"If the prosectors had exposed the mistake, there was a sufficient possibility of an acquittal in the high court," the judge said, condemning them for being "dishonest" and engaging in "sinful injustice that is absolutely unacceptable."
In delivering the ruling, the judge apologized to Maekawa, saying, "I am sorry for the great hardship you endured over the past 39 years."
The deadline for prosecutors to file an appeal is Aug. 1. But they are unlikely to proceed as it is only allowed for reasons such as the sentence going against legal precedents.
An official of the Nagoya High Public Prosecutors Office said it will consider its response after closely examining the ruling.
Maekawa expressed his joy after hearing the ruling himself.
"I have finally proven my innocence. I am not only overwhelmed with emotion, but also relieved," he told a press conference, urging prosecutors not to appeal.
The Kanazawa branch decided in 2011 to reopen the case, but the decision was overturned by the Nagoya High Court in 2013 following an objection by prosecutors.
The second request for a retrial was filed in 2022 and the Kanazawa branch ordered the retrial in October 2024 after finding the acquaintances' testimony lacked credibility.
The acquittal had been largely expected, as prosecutors were unable to present any new evidence to add to the circumstantial evidence, under which he was originally convicted, at the hearing in March this year that lasted just one day.
The ruling is expected to influence discussions on Japan's retrial system, which has faced criticism that the process of overturning wrongful convictions is excessively prolonged, due in part to the lack of provisions on the disclosure of evidence held by prosecutors.
Only after being strongly urged by the court did prosecutors disclose they were aware of the flaw in the testimony from the initial trial regarding the TV show. The disclosure followed the second retrial request from Maekawa.
In Hakamata's case, it took 42 years after first applying for a retrial to reopen the 1966 murder case. Hakamata spent nearly half a century on death row before he was released in March 2014, after new evidence raised doubts about his conviction."
The entire story can be read at:
https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/57523
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
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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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