Author Archives: Kana Sasakura

Two Executions in Japan…

Posted on April 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

Two inmates were hanged in Japan yesterday. It seems like the number of executions are increasing in Japan in recent years…

Read more here about the death penalty in Japan and how executions are carried out.

From the Japan Times:

Two inmates hanged for yakuza slayings

by Tomohiro Osaki, Staff Writer

Apr 26, 2013

The inmates were Yoshihide Miyagi, 56, and Katsuji Hamasaki, 64, the Justice Ministry said.

Members of a yakuza syndicate, the pair were convicted of conspiring with an accomplice to gun down two rival gangsters at a family restaurant in Chiba Prefecture in 2005.

The human rights watchdog Amnesty International immediately condemned the hangings, saying the fast pace of executions by the LDP-led government tells the world that Japan is determined to ignore calls by the international community to abolish the death penalty. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment

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Exoneree Fernando Bermudez on a Lecture Tour in Germany

Posted on April 20, 2013 | 1 Comment

From Fernando Bermudez:

Exoneree Fernando Bermudez is now touring around Germany, giving lectures about his experience and the innocence movement in the United States. The cities he will be visiting are: Bochum, Greifswald, Berlin, Passau, Tübingen, Wiesbaden, and Freiburg. Read the news here (in German).

Fernando Bermudez served over 18 years in New York prisons, following his wrongful conviction for murder, until proven innocent in 2009. Continue reading →

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Posted in Exonerations, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Life after exoneration, Western Europe

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Jeramie R. Davis Freed After Nearly 6 Years in Prison

Posted on April 12, 2013 | 5 Comments

Congratulations to Jeramie R. Davis and to the Innocence Project Northwest!

From Spokane, Washington (The Spokesman-Review):

A man who spent nearly six years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit had one request today after a judge set him free: a double cheeseburger from Zips.

Jeramie R. Davis, 42, also looked forward to bonding with his 5-year-old son, Elijah, who was born shortly after his arrest in 2007.

“He really doesn’t know who I am,” Davis said of his son. “I want to get to know him.

Today’s release ended years of investigations, a conviction, DNA tests, a second trial that convicted a different man and scores of legal arguments stemming from the June 17, 2007, bludgeoning death of 74-year-old porn shop owner John G. “Jack” Allen.

“I’m grateful,” Davis said of years of legal battles by defense attorneys Anna Tolin, Kevin Curtis and others who labored on his behalf. Continue reading →

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Posted in DNA, Events, Exonerations, North America, Police conduct (good and bad), Project Spotlights, Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad)

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Risinger & Risinger on Innocence Lawyers and More…

Posted on April 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

 

Here are five recently published works of scholarship relating to wrongful conviction.

(1) Michael D. Risinger and Lesley C. Risinger , The Emerging Role of Innocence Lawyer and the Need for Role-Differentiated Standards of Professional Conduct (March 21, 2013). Sarah Cooper (Ed.) Controversies in Innocence Cases in America, Forthcoming.

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2237754

(2)Richard A. Leo, Why Interrogation Contamination Occurs (2013). Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Forthcoming; Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper .

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2235152

(3)Andrew Chongseh Kim, Beyond Finality: How Making Criminal Judgments Less Final Can Further the ‘Interests of Finality’ (March 19, 2013). Utah Law Review, Forthcoming.

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2235812

(4)Jon Gould,  Julia Carrano, Richard A. Leo and Katie Hail-Jares, Predicting Erroneous Convictions (March 2013). Iowa Law Review, Forthcoming; Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper .

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2231740

(5) Samuel R Gross, How Many False Convictions are There? How Many Exonerations are There? (February 26, 2013). Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice: Causes and Remedies in North American and European Criminal Justice Systems, C. R. Huff & M. Killias eds., Routledge, March 2013 ; U of Michigan Public Law Research Paper No. 316.

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2225420

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Posted in Scholarship

Breaking News: Two Retrial Pleas Turned Down in Japan Today…

Posted on March 6, 2013 | 2 Comments

Unbelievable…… Kagoshima District Court and Nagoya High Court  both turned down the retrial plea of two cases (Ohsaki Case and Fukui Case) today. Read about the Ohsaki Case here, and Fukui Case here.

Here is an article about the Ohsaki case by mainichi.jp:

Court rejects appeal for retrial over 1979 murder case

KAGOSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) — The Kagoshima District Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal for a retrial filed by a woman who was convicted and served a 10-year prison term for killing her brother-in-law in 1979 in Kagoshima Prefecture for insurance money.

The decision came after the district court had initially decided to reopen the case involving Ayako Haraguchi, now 85, in 2002, which was overruled by the Fukuoka High Court in 2004. The high court’s decision was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court.

The murder occurred in October 1979, when Kunio Nakamura, 42, was found dead in a cattle stable beside his home in the town of Osaki, Kagoshima. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Eyewitness identification, False confessions, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Ａnother Court Decision to be Handed Down Today — Fukui Case

Posted on March 5, 2013 | 1 Comment
Maekawa

From Yomiuri Shimbun (see the link). Shoji Maekawa, the defendant in Fukui Case (center). Shoji Sakurai (left), and Takao Sugiyama(right), two defendants in so-called Fukawa Case, were both exonerated in 2011.

Two decisions concerning wrongful convictions will be handed down today in Japan. One is  Ohsaki case which I posted about yesterday, and the other is Fukui case.

Fukui case involves a 1986 murder of a 15-year-old girl. The defendant (Shoji Maekawa) in the case was acquitted by the Fukui District Court in 1990, but the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court vacated the decision and gave Maekawa 8 years in prison in 1995 (the Japanese criminal justice system allows the prosecutors to appeal a verdict of acquittal).

Maekawa petitioned to open a retrial in 2004, and the Kanazawa Branch　granted his petition in November 2011. The prosecutors filed an objection to the High Court, and the decision by the High Court will be handed down today (on March 6th, 2013).

Read about the Fukui Case here (English, by Asahi Shimbun) and here (Japanese).

Below is an article by Yomiuri Shimbun in 2011: Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Court to Decide Whether to Retry a Case from 1979 on March 6, 2013– Ohsaki Case

Posted on March 4, 2013 | 3 Comments
Ms. Ayako Haraguchi. From 47news.

Ms. Ayako Haraguchi. From 47news.

The Kagoshima District Court will decide whether to opne a retrial for a  34-year-old case (so called Ohsaki/ Osaki Case) tomorrow. This is a case where confessions  were crucial pieces of evidence in determining the defendant’s guilt. Ayako Haraguchi, now 85 years of age, is seeking a retrial for the 2nd time. Will she get her day in court?

On October 15th 1979, the victim’s body was found in a barn in Ohsaki, Kagoshima Prefecture. The victim had been missing for 3 days. The police immediately suspected that the victim’s two older brothers, A and B, murdered him. After A and B confessed to the crime, they were arrested on the 18th. B’s son was also arrested on the 25th. On the 30th, A’s former wife, Ayako Haraguchi was also arrested, based on A and B’s confessions.

Haraguchi never confessed to the crime. However, the other three all confessed. They named Haraguchi as the principal, and admitted that they killed the victim by strangling him with a towel.

In March 1980, the Kagoshima District Court decided that Haraguchi was guilty of the murder. The sentence was 10 years in prison. Haraguchi lost the appeals, and served the time.

Haraguchi got out of prison in 1990, and petitioned to retry the case in 1995. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, False confessions, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Life Sentence Without Parole as an Alternative to Death Penalty?

Posted on February 24, 2013 | 1 Comment

From the Japan Times:

Opinion divided on life term without parole

by Daisuke Sato (Last In A Series), Feb 21, 2013

A 44-year-old man serving a life sentence in a prison in the Chugoku region believes that continuing to live a respectable life is the only atonement he can make for the families of the two people he killed.

The inmate, who has now served 15 years, has been behaving well and prison guards often describe him as an “exemplary” prisoner.

He was initially sentenced to death by a district court. However, a high court determined that there was a possibility he could be rehabilitated and reduced the punishment to a life term. This sentence was later finalized.

“The death penalty may have been upheld” if his trials had been conducted today because sentencing has gotten tougher, the inmate said in an interview in the prison’s visiting room.

Technically, inmates serving life terms can be released on parole if they serve 10 years, demonstrate signs of reform and meet other requirements. The reality, though, is that the period such inmates are actually serving has been getting longer, recently reaching an average of about 30 years, according to data released by the Justice Ministry.

Even so, the Chugoku inmate is happy just for the opportunity to atone. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment, Reforming/Improving the system

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Three Executions in Japan Today (Feb. 21, 2013)

Posted on February 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

Three executions were carried out today in Japan. These were the first executions since Shinzo Abe (Liberal Democratic Party) became the Prime Minister in December 2012.

The three men executed today were Masahiro Kanagawa (at the Tokyo Detention Center), Keiki Kano (Nagoya Detention Center), and Kaoru Kobayashi (Osaka Detention Center). Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who has the ultimate power to order execution of death row inmates, did not comment when and why these three were chosen.

One of the three men, Kobayashi, was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 2004. After he was sentenced to death by the Nara District Court, he withdrew his appeal, saying that he did not want to live anymore. However, he filed a motion for a retrial in 2008 (the motion was rejected by the Nara District Court).  Shinichi Ishizuka, who was Kobayashi’s attorney, commented: “Kobayashi was frustrated that he could not appropriately raise the fact that he did not act with the intent to kill the victim at the trial. We were preparing to file for a retrial again. We regret the fact that he was executed before he could have his day in court” (this paragraph is from the Mainichi (in Japanese)).

Justice Minister Tanigaki told the press that if there are problems within the current system of capital punishment, they should be fixed. However, he also commented that he does not think an overall reform is needed. Tanigaki did not witness the executions today, since it is very uncommon for a Justice Minister to do so.

As of December 2012, there were 133 inmates on death row, a record-high number.

Read more about today’s news in English here (the Mainichi), and here (the Japan Times).

Numerous organizations immediately issued statements criticizing today’s executions: Japan Federation of Bar Associations,  Amnesty International, and Center for Prisoners’ Rights (all in Japanese).

Read more about the death penalty on this blog (ex. here, here, here and here).

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment

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Death by Hanging — How Executions are Carried Out in Japan

Posted on February 20, 2013 | 2 Comments

Here are two articles published by the Japan Times today on death penalty in Japan.

One describes how executions are actually carried out in Japan, and the other tells a story of the mother of a man who was hanged.

Death's door: Several buttons — one of which opens the gallows' trapdoor (right), executing condemned prisoners — are seen at the Tokyo Detention House in August 2010.

  • Death’s door: Several buttons — one of which opens the gallows’ trapdoor (right), executing condemned prisoners — are seen at the Tokyo Detention House in August 2010. | KYODO

Sides weigh in on hangings but mute on death penaltY, Discussions under DPJ rule on executions remain secret

by Daisuke Sato  and Takuro Iwahashi

Kyodo

First in a series on hangings. In the execution chamber, a red lamp near the ceiling lights up, the chief detention officer gives the signal and five guards each press a button, one of which triggers the trapdoor of the gallows.No one will ever know which button actually opened the door. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment

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Murder of One Gets Death Sentence

Posted on February 19, 2013 | 1 Comment

Read about the current state of capital punishment in Japan here.

A 30-year-old man from Osaka was sentenced to death last week. What was unusal about this sentence is that the defendant had no prior criminal record, and that it was a case involving the death of a single victim.

In the 1983 Nagayama decision, the Supreme Court stated that the courts must be extremely cautious to impose the death penalty. It stated that they could impose death penalty only where the below stated nine factors were considered and where the death penalty is deemed compelling.

The nine factors are: seriousness of the offence, motive, how the crime was committed; especially the manner of the murder, seriousness of the outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims, sentiments of victim’s family members, impact on society, defendant’s age, prior record/ criminal history, and degree of remorse.

When the courts take these factors into consideration, it  is standard practice that they do not sentence one to the death penalty when the case involves a single victim and the defendant has no prior criminal record. Thus, the case last week came to a shock to many.

From the Japan Times:

Killer of one had no rap sheet, sentenced to hang

Kyodo, Feb. 16, 2013

OKAYAMA – In what appears to be a first in the judicial system, an Osaka man has been sentenced to hang for killing a woman even though there was only one victim and the perpetrator had no previous criminal record.

Judge Kosuke Morioka of the Okayama District Court, presiding over a panel of professional and lay judges trying Koichi Sumida, 30, said Thursday the victim was also sexually assaulted, making the case “grave.”

Sumida’s lawyer immediately appealed the sentence. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment

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Innocence Project Northwest Fights for the Compensation Bill in Washington

Posted on February 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

From Seattle Weekly:

The Innocence Project Tries Again with Wrongly Convicted Compensation Bill

 By Matt Driscoll Wed., Feb. 6 2013 at 8:00 AM

As the saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

 Thwarted during the last two legislative sessions in an ongoing attempt to push a bill through that provides financial compensation for the wrongly convicted, the Innocence Project – with help from its local, University of Washington-affiliated chapter and sponsor Rep. Tina Orwall (D – Des Moines) – have gotten back on the horse, championing HB 1341. If passed the legislation would require the state to dole out payments to those who were unjustly convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.

The bill is scheduled for a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, with advocates planning a rally at the Capital Building in Olympia to coincide with the event. But much like was the case in 2011 and 2012, the bill’s ultimate fate is likely tied to something far more straightforward than public support and rallies – how much it will cost. Continue reading →

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Posted in Compensation/Exoneree compensation, Life after exoneration, Project Spotlights

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Train Groping and Wrongful Convictions in Japan

Posted on February 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

Since commuter trains in urban areas are unbelievably crowded in Japan, there have been problems of groping (“chikan“) on these trains, especially during the morning rush hours.

Not surprisingly, there have been many cases where people were wrongfully arrested or even convicted as the groper. Once arrested, it is extremely difficult to prove one’s innocence since there typically is no evidence other than the victim’s testimony. Read more about the problem of groping and wrongful convictions here (an article from the Japan Times Online).

Below is a recent article from the Mainichi Newspapers about a case currently being fought to win a retrial in a train groping case.

From the Mainichi Online:

Court questions man seeking retrial in train groping case

The Tokyo District Court on Jan. 31 made the rare move of summoning an elderly man for questioning during his request for a retrial in a molestation case over which he has already served prison time.

Usually retrial requests are screened on paper, and it is unusual to directly question a former defendant. Lawyers for the 70-year-old man, whose name is being withheld, said they and prosecutors are due to submit their final opinions on the case to the district court at the end of February. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Why Do Innocent People Confess?

Posted on January 2, 2013 | 1 Comment

Why do innocent people confess to the crimes they did not commit? Here’s an article on the cause of false confessions in Japan by Mariko Oi (BBC).  Watch the story online here.

Related articles about the Japanese Criminal Justice System: False Confessions as Major Cause of Wrongful Convictions in Japan, Audio and Visual Recording of Interrogations, Fukawa Case, and Compensation for the Wrongfully Convicted.

2 January 2013 Last updated at 00:29 GMT

Japan crime: Why do innocent people confess?

By Mariko Oi BBC World Service, Tokyo

Japan has a conviction rate of more than 99%. But in recent months there has been a public outcry over a number of wrongful arrests where innocent people confessed to crimes.

It started with a threat posted on the city of Yokohama’s website in late June: “I’ll attack a primary school and kill all the children before the summer.”

In the months that followed, there were a number of similar threats posted on the internet – some threatening famous people, including the Emperor’s grandchildren.

After a police investigation, four people were arrested. Two, including a 19-year-old student, confessed whilst in custody.

But on 9 October, the real perpetrator sent an email to a lawyer – Yoji Ochiai – and local media, explaining how he or she made those threats by taking control of innocent internet users’ computers with a virus.

His or her purpose, as stated in the email to Ochiai, was “to expose the police and prosecutors’ abomination”.

And in a way, it did. It raised the question – why did the innocent people confess to a crime that they didn’t commit? What kind of pressure were they put under? Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, False confessions, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Police conduct (good and bad), Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Reforming/Improving the system

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Breaking News: Judge Vacates Convictions in Washington

Posted on December 15, 2012 | 1 Comment

Congratulations to Robert Larson, Tyler Gassman, Paul Statler, and the Innocence Project Northwest!!

From The Spokesman Review:

Family members gasped with joy and wept Friday as a judge threw out the disputed robbery convictions of three Spokane men who have argued for years that they were framed by a snitch who was trying to spare himself and his brother from longer prison terms.

Superior Court Judge Michael Price, after reviewing new evidence in the case, offered scathing criticism of what he called the failures of the three attorneys who previously defended Paul E. Statler, Tyler W. Gassman and Robert E. Larson. Price vacated the 2009 convictions for robbery, assault and drive-by shooting that netted Statler about 42 years, Gassman 26 and Larson 20 years in prison.

“Mr. Larson, Mr. Gassman and Mr. Statler were entitled to a fair trial and effective counsel,” Price said. “One cannot go on without the other. Here the counsel failed … to discover evidence critical to rebutting the state’s case.”

Price said arguments presented by attorneys on behalf of the Innocence Project Northwest Clinic had provided new phone and work records – which had not been sought by earlier defense attorneys – that raised serious doubt whether a jury would have convicted the three men. Continue reading →

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Posted in North America, Snitching

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Double Jeopardy and the Japanese Law

Posted on December 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

As I posted here, Mainali Case revealed many problems of the Japanese criminal justice system. One of them is the law that permits prosecutors to appeal the acquittal verdict.

Japanese law does ban double jeopardy. Article 39 of the Constitution states: No person shall be held criminally liable for an act which was lawful at the time it was committed, or of which he had been acquitted, nor shall he be placed in double jeopardy.

However, the Supreme Court decided on September 27, 1950 that trials in district court, hight court and the Supreme Court for the same offence constitute a single jeopardy. Thus, there exists no double jeorpardy where the prosecutor appeal the acquittal at the district court. There has been many cases where this case law was challenged, but the Court has constantly upheld the decision. It was not even considered as an issue in the recent reform efforts.

Isn’t it about time we change this rule? Here is an excellent article by The Japan Times on this topic.

From The Japan Times Online :

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

Double jeopardy practice scrutinized

Bids to reverse acquittals risk invalidating the lay judges’ role

By SETSUKO KAMIYA Staff writer

Two recent high-profile exonerations have reignited calls by defense lawyers to require the full disclosure of evidence, and to let verdicts handed down by lay judges stand.

The lawyers for Nepalese Govinda Prasad Mainali, who on Nov. 7 was finally exonerated in absentia of a 1997 robbery-murder, went a step further and slammed the Japanese practice of allowing prosecutors to appeal acquittals — something other countries ban as double jeopardy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Reforming/Improving the system

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Compensation for the Wrongfully Convicted

Posted on November 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

Studying other legal systems enables us to look back and clearly assess what is wrong with our own system. When I first started working for the Innocence Project Northwest last year, I was shocked to learn that the State of Washington has no law that ensures  compensation to the wrongfully convicted (read the details here). In fact, many of the states in the US still have no compensation law (read the details here).

What about other countries? Here is the situation in Japan.

The Constitution of Japan (which was drafted after the WWII under the US occupation) states in Article 40: ” Any person, in case he is acquitted after he has been arrested or detained, may sue the State for redress as provided by law“.  It ensures one the right to sue the State to get compensation in case he was wrongfully arrested or detained. In response to this Article, the Criminal Compensation Act (1950) specifies the details of the compensation.

Article 4 of the Act provides that the amount of compensation given will be decided by the court. The court shall set the rate of compensation by considering how the person was detained, the length of detention, the person’s loss of property, physical and mental pain he/ she had to suffer, and negligence by the police and prosecutors.  The minimum daily rate is 1,000 yen (12.5 USD) per day he/ she was detained, and the maximum is 12,500 yen (about 155 USD).  See the table below for the amount given to exonerees in past cases.

The wrongfully arrested/ detained can also file a lawsuit against the State under  the State Redress Act (Act No. 125 of 1947).  However, to win the lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that ”a public officer who exercises the public authority of the State or of a
public entity has, in the course of his/her duties, unlawfully inflicted damage
on another person intentionally or negligently” (Art. 1 of the Redress Act. Emphasis added. Translation by Japanese Law Translation).

It is extremly hard to prove the intention or negligence of the public officer since the State has all the evidence about the case, and the lawsuit takes a lot of time and resources. Only about 6% of the lawsuits under the Redress Act end in favor of the plaintiff. This system needs much reform.

So how much compensation will Govinda Mainali (recent exoneree) get for his 15 years of detention? Here’s an article by Daily Yomiuri Online.

From Daily Yomiuri Online.

Excerpt: Chihiro Iwasaki and Kotaro Kodama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

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Posted in Asia, Compensation/Exoneree compensation, Exonerations, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, investigations and investigation techniques, Life after exoneration, Reforming/Improving the system

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Mainali Finally Declared Innocent by Tokyo High Court!

Posted on November 7, 2012 | 1 Comment

Govinda Prasad Mainali, the Nepalese man convicted of killing a woman in 1997, was finally acquitted today by the Tokyo High Court. It is reported that the prosecutors will not appeal the decision. Mainali has already gone back to his home country.

Read my previous post on this case here.

From The Mainichi:

High court acquits Nepalese man of murder in retrial

A supporter for Govinda Prasad Mainali shows off a banner saying, "Acquitted in a retrial," in front of the Tokyo High Court in Chiyoda Ward on Nov. 7. (Mainichi)

The Tokyo High Court acquitted a Nepalese man, who had been released in June and returned home after serving a prison term for a murder he never committed, in a retrial on Nov. 7.

The court upheld the Tokyo District Court’s initial ruling in April 2000 that found Govinda Prasad Mainali, 46, not guilty. Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, DNA, Exonerations, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Third Person’s DNA Found — Iizuka Case

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 1 Comment

My previous post on Iizuka Case here. This is a case from 1992 where two girls were killed in Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Michitoshi Kuma was convicted as the perpetrator of the murders, and he was executed in 2008. He maintained his innocence until his death.

Efforts to exonerate Kuma posthumously has been going on after his death. His widow filed a motion for a retrial to the Fukuoka District Court in 1993, and his lawyers has been trying to get new DNA testing results from the evidence in this case.

Last week, his lawyers revealed a new DNA testing result. From The Mainichi News:

 

Different type of DNA uncovered after execution in Iizuka case: lawyers

Tsutomu Iwata, one of defense lawyers seeking a retrial of former death row inmate Michitoshi Kuma, who was executed in 2008, uses a panel to explain the discovery of a DNA type different from Kuma's in Fukuoka on Oct. 25. (Mainichi)
Tsutomu Iwata, one of defense lawyers seeking a retrial of former death row inmate Michitoshi Kuma, who was executed in 2008, uses a panel to explain the discovery of a DNA type different from Kuma’s in Fukuoka on Oct. 25. (Mainichi) Continue reading →

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Posted in Asia, Capital punishment, DNA, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice

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Prosecutors Argue for Mainali’s Innocence

Posted on October 30, 2012 | 1 Comment

My previous post on Govinda Mainali’s Case here. This is a 1997 case where a Nepalese man was convicted of killing a woman in Tokyo.

 
Prosecutors entering Tokyo High Court for the Mainali Retrial Hearing (From Sankei Shimbun News).

The retrial was held on October 29th at the Tokyo High Court.  The prosecutors argued for Mainali’s innocence, saying that Mainali was accused of a crime he did not commit. The court will hand down the ruling next week, on November 7th. The prosecution will not appeal the not-guilty ruling, and the decision will be finalized soon.

Mainali’s case will be the 8th case in Japan after WWII where the defendant was declared innocent after the retrial in a death penalty/ life imprisonment case.

Takayuki Aoki (Tokyo High Prosecutor’s Office) made a comment after the retrial. He said that the investigation and the first trial itself were not problematic. He did state that he is sorry that Mr. Mainali was wrongfully accused and detained for a long time as the perpetrator. However, there was no apology given from the prosecution at the retrial hearing. They still take the position that the their accusation was inevitable, and the circumstances have changed since the new DNA testing results became available.

Typical problems surrounding the Japanese criminal justice system were present during the course of the trial and the retrial of the Mainali case: lengthy detention during investigation, interrogations coerced by the police and prosecutors, prosecutors appealing the decision to grant retrial, and non-disclosure of exculpatory evidence by the prosecution. It is reported that the police and prosecutors will not hold a thorough investigation of what went wrong in this particular case. If we sincerely regret what happened and are determined to never let it happen again, shouldn’t we thoroughly examine the cause of wrongful conviction in each and every case?

Stories on Mainali’s retrial here and here (in English).

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Posted in Asia, DNA, Exonerations, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Police conduct (good and bad), Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad), Reforming/Improving the system

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