Retrial Overturned over 1966 Murder in Central Japan

June 12, 2018

Tokyo- Tokyo High Court overturned Monday a lower court ruling allowing the reopening of a high-profile 1966 murder case against Iwao Hakamada, who was released from death row in 2014.

Canceling the ruling issued in March 2014 by Shizuoka District Court, the high court rejected an appeal for a retrial by Hakamada, an 82-year-old former professional boxer.

But the high court stopped short of canceling the lower court decision to suspend the death sentence and imprisonment of Hakamada, accused of robbery and killing four members of a family by arson in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on June 30, 1966.

The de facto not guilty ruling by the district court was overruled four years after Hakamada was released from prison. He had been under detention for 48 years since his arrest in August 1966.

As Hakamada's defense side plans to file a special appeal to the Supreme Court, court hearings over his retrial plea are expected to continue, sources familiar with the situation said.

The focal point was how the high court judged the credibility of test results showing that blood traces found on what the Supreme Court, in its 1980 ruling, recognized as the shirt worn by Hakamada at the time of the murder did not match his DNA. The top court ruling turned down an appeal and finalized the death sentence.

"As serious doubt exists on the test method in terms of scientific principles and its usefulness, the test results are not trustworthy," the high court said in Monday's ruling.

University of Tsukuba Prof. Katsuya Honda used a special test reagent for extracting DNA samples from the blood traces found on the shirt when he conducted DNA analysis for Hakamada's latest plea for a retrial, filed in April 2008.

Tokyo High Court Presiding Judge Takaaki Oshima said that as the reagent contains DNA degradative enzyme, a serious doubts exist in the analysis method used by Honda, adding that such a method cannot be recognized as established science.

Since the Honda method is not in line with academic standards, it is inappropriate, the Oshima said.

The judge also said that he sees the district court's evidence fabrication claim, which was based on DNA analysis results, as a leap in logic and only an abstract possibility.

Still, he said that suspending the death sentence and canceling the imprisonment of Hakamada was appropriate, due to his age and health condition. Jiji Press