PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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BACKGROUND: Japan Times: "Known as the Hino town incident, the robbery-murder took place in December 1984 in Shiga Prefecture where a 69-year-old woman who ran a local liquor shop had gone missing. Her body was found in the same town a month later, with an opened portable safe belonging to the woman also found four months after her initial disappearance. Police questioned Hiromu Sakahara, who was a regular at the store, but he denied involvement in the crime. He was released after his wife provided an alibi for him for the night before the woman’s disappearance. However, as the investigation stalled, police went back to Sakahara and questioned him intensely. He allegedly confessed to the crime and was arrested in March 1988, more than three years after the murder. Despite pleading not guilty, the Otsu District Court sentenced Sakahara to life in prison in 1995. The court said that although his confession contained inconsistencies, there was enough circumstantial evidence to prove his guilt. The Osaka High Court, meanwhile, said that the indirect evidence used in the first trial as the basis for his conviction was not enough. But unlike the lower court, it ruled in 1997 that his confession was enough to find him guilty. Despite the lack of concrete evidence that suggested Sakahara’s involvement in the crime, the ruling was finalized by the Supreme Court in 2000."
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/25/japan/crime-legal/retrial-murder-deceased-defendant/
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "More than seven years have passed since the Otsu District Court initially approved reopening the trial in July 2018 as sought by Sakahara's family. Prosecutors had filed two objections during the process, prolonging it before the decision was finalized. The latest development comes as the Justice Ministry works to review Japan's criminal retrial system, amid criticism that the process of overturning wrongful convictions is excessively prolonged, largely due to inadequate legal provisions. Discussions at the ministry have so far indicated that the reform will not include a provision prohibiting prosecutors from filing objections against starting a retrial, but Sakahara's case could bring renewed attention to the issue."
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STORY: "Posthumous retrial set for 1984 murder, 1st for serious Japan postwar case," published by The Mainichi Japan, on February 26, 2026
PHOTO CAPTION: "Koji Sakahara smiles during a gathering in Tokyo on Feb. 25, 2026, a day after the Supreme Court granted a posthumous retrial for his deceased father Hiromu Sakahara."
GIST: "TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's top court has granted a posthumous retrial for a man convicted of robbing and murdering a 69-year-old woman in 1984, in the first such retrial in postwar history for a case involving a sentence of life imprisonment or death.
The decision dated Tuesday by the Supreme Court's Second Petty Bench granted a retrial of Hiromu Sakahara, who died of illness aged 75 in 2011 while serving a life term, dismissing the prosecution's appeal. The move indicates a high possibility of his acquittal in retrial proceedings at the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture.
"It has taken an incredibly long time. Something this tragic must never happen again," his 64-year-old son Koji said at a gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
He also called for a "swift start of the trial and finalization" of a sentence later at a press conference in Osaka.
More than seven years have passed since the Otsu District Court initially approved reopening the trial in July 2018 as sought by Sakahara's family. Prosecutors had filed two objections during the process, prolonging it before the decision was finalized.
The latest development comes as the Justice Ministry works to review Japan's criminal retrial system, amid criticism that the process of overturning wrongful convictions is excessively prolonged, largely due to inadequate legal provisions.
Discussions at the ministry have so far indicated that the reform will not include a provision prohibiting prosecutors from filing objections against starting a retrial, but Sakahara's case could bring renewed attention to the issue.
In a decision finalized by the Supreme Court in 2000, Sakahara was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on charges of killing Hatsu Ikemoto, a liquor store manager in Hino, Shiga Prefecture, and stealing her cash box.
Sakahara argued in an initial plea for a retrial that his original confession during the investigation was made under coercion, but the Otsu District Court dismissed it in 2006. Sakahara was appealing the ruling at the Osaka High Court when he died.
Following a second plea, the district court ordered a retrial in July 2018 for Sakahara, questioning the credibility of his confession about guiding investigators to the scene. The ruling was upheld by the Osaka High Court in 2023, with prosecutors appealing it.
Japan's Code of Criminal Procedure allows a retrial to be held even after the death of a person whose guilty sentence is finalized when there is a clear reason to believe the individual may be innocent.
Courts have so far approved only a handful of posthumous retrials sought by bereaved families, including over the so-called Yokohama Incident, often described as Japan's worst case of repression of free speech during World War II.
The first posthumous retrial held in the postwar period was in connection with a murder case involving a woman who was sentenced to 13 years in prison. She was acquitted by the Tokushima District Court in 1985."
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. 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.
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;
