Ohsaki Murder Case
Ayako Haraguchi Defendant
(Kagoshima)
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Supreme Court denies retrial for 92-year-old woman in murder case
The Supreme Court has slammed the door on a 92-year-old woman's decades-long quest to be cleared of a murder she has claimed she never committed.
Ayako Haraguchi spent 10 years behind bars after being convicted of killing her brother-in-law. Haraguchi's supporters had been hopeful she would finally get a retrial after the Fukuoka High Court's Miyazaki branch ruled in favor of one in March 2018. The decision was based on new evidence including 12 photos of the victim submitted by her defense team.
Prosecutors appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.
In a ruling dated June 25, the First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court rejected Haraguchi's request for a retrial on the grounds the new evidence was not enough to lead to a reasonable doubt about the confirmed ruling. The Supreme Court said the high court had erred in its appraisal of the forensic analysis of the new evidence.
It is believed to be the first time the Supreme Court has ever rejected decisions to start retrials that have been handed down by district and high courts.
Unless lawyers for Haraguchi can find other evidence that would warrant a retrial, it now appears unlikely that she will ever get the chance to clear her name, given her advanced age and declining health. She now remains in a hospital in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Haraguchi was found guilty of slaying her brother-in-law in 1979. Her prison sentence was finalized two years later. After her release in 1990, she tried three times to get a retrial, but it was not until 2017 that a district court finally agreed that one was justified.
The 42-year-old victim was discovered under a pile of fertilizer in a barn near his home. Haraguchi and three of her relatives were arrested on suspicion of murder and abandoning the dead body. The three others, including Haraguchi's ex-husband, who was the dead man's older brother, all confessed to the crime and were given sentences of between one to eight years.
The key point in the latest round of retrial requests was related to two new pieces of evidence presented by the defense team.
A psychologist's testimony cast doubt on an eyewitness account of another of Haraguchi's relatives who claimed to have overheard her talking to her accomplices about the murder. While the Kagoshima District Court recognized the testimony as being somewhat legitimate, both the Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court and the Supreme Court rejected it, with the Supreme Court saying it only represented "one perspective from a psychological standpoint."
The other new evidence the defense presented concerned the initial forensic assessment that the victim had been strangled with a towel. The defense team said there were no bruises or markings showing he had been strangled and argued there was a possibility the victim died of shock due to loss of blood after falling into a ditch.
The high court ordered the retrial because it found that the new evidence carried a high degree of credibility. However, the Supreme Court took a much more strict view of the photos the defense lawyers submitted.
Saying the photographs did not constitute hard evidence, the Supreme Court ruled that there were limits to the extent the photos could be used as evidence and that it merely suggested the possibility of what might have occurred.
The court also assessed testimony presented in the initial trial that led to the confirmed ruling that the victim had fallen into a ditch after getting drunk and was taken by neighbors to his home where the victim was murdered by his relatives, who also disposed of his body.
The Supreme Court ruled that the testimony eliminated the possibility that someone other than the relatives had disposed of the body.
Japan's National Daily Since 1922
Supporters, experts blast Japan's top court for not granting murder retrial to 92-yr-old
June 27, 2019 (Mainichi Japan)
Ayako Haraguchi smiles at a celebration thrown for her June 15 birthday at the hospital where she is staying in Kagoshima Prefecture on June 7, 2019. (Mainichi/Soichiro Hayashi)
A retrial for a nonagenarian woman convicted of murder that a district court granted and a high court upheld was denied by the Supreme Court June 25, prompting supporters and experts to call the move "a suicidal act by the judiciary" that "goes against the times."
Ayako Haraguchi, now 92 years old, has consistently denied involvement in the 1979 murder of her 42-year-old brother-in-law in Osaki, a town in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima. Even after she was convicted of the murder and other charges in 1981 and served 10 years in prison, she continued to deny that she committed the killing, and sought a retrial. Her usually warm expression clouded over when talk turned to the case, and she expressed her anger toward police and the courts.
She started living at an elderly welfare facility in the Kagoshima prefectural city of Shibushi four years ago, and is now in a hospital in the prefecture to manage her health. Last March, when she was told by her attorneys that the Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court had approved the start of a retrial, she was barely able to squeeze out a "thank you." More recently, she has had trouble uttering any words.
On June 7, Haraguchi's lawyers visited her at the hospital, and celebrated her 92nd birthday, which was on June 15. "Let's hang in there just a little bit longer until you're pronounced innocent," her attorneys told her, and she nodded in response.
Upon learning of the Supreme Court's latest and final decision dated June 25, head defense attorney Masami Mori spoke to a press conference at the Kagoshima Prefectural Government building in Kagoshima on June 26 with obvious disappointment. "We weren't expecting such a decision," he said. "I don't know how we're going to break the news to (Haraguchi)."
Secretary-general of the defense attorneys, Yumi Kamoshida, blasted the Supreme Court at a news conference at the Ministry of Justice Press Club in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district. "This is a high-handed decision. The Supreme Court has not squarely faced 92-year-old Ms. Haraguchi, who has been declaring her innocence," she said, raising her voice. Kamoshida choked up as she introduced a comment from Haraguchi's daughter, which said, "I'd believed that my mother and I could soon be at ease if we waited just a little bit. But I plan to continue fighting without giving up."
Satoshi Takeda, 76, who has helped Haraguchi with her day-to-day life since she became unable to care for herself, said, "It's an unforgivable decision and a suicidal act by the judiciary. We will not give up."
Junko Inadome, 61, who had been assisting Haraguchi with housework ever since the latter came out of prison and started living alone, said in a quivering voice, "If we let Ayako, who has stubbornly stayed alive for the purpose of winning her 'innocence,' know about the court ruling, it might shock her in a way that affects whether she lives or not."
Ayako Haraguchi is given flowers after the Fukuoka High Court's Miyazaki branch supported the lower court's decision on a retrial, in this photo taken at a hospital in Kagoshima Prefecture on March 12, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Ayako Haraguchi's attorneys)
Involved in the case since the first filing for a retrial in 1995, Mori, along with his colleagues, were finally able to obtain a high court branch decision green-lighting a retrial on their third attempt -- which was all the more reason the Supreme Court's decision came as a shock. "I just felt all the strength leave my body. We won't give up the fight, but whether we'll be able to win a 'not guilty' ruling while Ms. Haraguchi is alive, we can't say."
The attorneys' third attempt won over the district and high courts with new evidence they submitted. But the same evidence was determined by the Supreme Court as "not explicit enough for an 'innocent' ruling."
The courts had originally determined that the victim was drunk and fell into a ditch on the side of the road, and was carried to his home, where Haraguchi conspired with her ex-husband and two other relatives to kill the man, wrapping a towel around the victim's neck, and pulling as hard as she could to strangle him. Subsequently, the courts ruled, the defendants buried the body in a barn.
As new evidence, Haraguchi's attorneys submitted a forensic pathologist's evaluation that the victim's body did not show the same symptoms of someone who had been suffocated with a towel, and that there was a broad range of bleeding on the right side of his body, indicating the high likelihood that the cause of death was hemorrhagic shock.
The Kagoshima District Court ruled that the evidence diminished the credibility of the argument that the man had died of suffocation. The Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court went even further to conclude that it was highly likely the man had died of hemorrhagic shock caused when he fell into the ditch.
The First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court, however, determined that such lower court rulings "overestimated the (new) evidence" and were "irrational." It questioned why the body would have been buried in the barn, if the victim had died by accident. It also said that the forensic evaluation had not adequately considered the possibility that the victim's external injuries had been caused by others, and not the fall. As for doubts about the testimonies of the three relatives who were also implicated in the case and had intellectual disabilities, and that of Haraguchi's sister-in-law, who said she witnessed Haraguchi approach the relatives about killing the man, the Supreme Court ruled those doubts were "irrational."
Ayako Haraguchi, center, smiles at a press conference in the city of Kagoshima after the Kagoshima District Court decided to grant her a retrial on March 26, 2002. (Mainichi/Keisuke Kawazu)
Still, in criminal cases, defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Anything that's not 100% certain should work in the defendants' favor. Not only has Haraguchi denied any involvement in the case since her arrest, she has been granted retrials three times.
"This is a case in which there is almost no evidence aside from testimonies," says Hiroshi Kadono, a former Tokyo High Court judge. "The (so-called) accomplices' confessions have changed over time, bringing their credibility into question. Putting that together with the forensic specialist's evaluation and looking at the case comprehensively, the final decision should've been rendered inconclusive."
There have been numerous retrials in recent years in which those once convicted of murder have been found innocent and freed, some from indefinite prison sentences. "Retrials are a way of redeeming innocent people," says Yuji Shiratori, a professor of criminal procedure law at Kanagawa University School of Law. "The Supreme Court's latest decision goes against the times, when granting retrials is becoming increasingly more common."
(Japanese original by Akira Hattori, Kenji Tatsumi and Masanori Makita, City News Department; Soichiro Hayashi and Masaya Matsuo, Kagoshima Bureau; and Ryoichi Shinkai, Kanoya Local Bureau)
Haraguchi hears of retrial being granted.
Attorneys jubilant after appeal has been accepted.
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Ohsaki Timeline
| High court ruling clears way for retrial of 90-year-old |
After nearly three decades, 90-year-old Kagoshima woman wins retrial for murder conviction
KAGOSHIMA – The Kagoshima District Court on Wednesday ordered the retrial of a 90-year-old woman who served a 10-year prison term for the 1979 murder of her brother-in-law.
Ayako Haraguchi has consistently denied killing Kunio Nakamura, despite confessions by three of Haraguchi’s relatives who were also convicted in connection with the case.
Haraguchi was found guilty in 1980 by the district court, and fought through to the Supreme Court, which in 1981 shot down her appeal that was based on the confessions. She filed her first plea for a retrial in 1995 after being released from prison in 1990.
Her third attempt to reopen the case focused on the credibility of her relatives’ confessions, which were critical in the handing down of a guilty verdict.
While the relatives said the victim was strangled with a towel, Haraguchi’s defense counsel submitted a new forensic report based on autopsy photos claiming that the victim’s body showed no signs of suffocation.
The defense team also referred to expert testimony from a psychologist that cast doubt on another relative’s confession that she had witnessed Haraguchi proposing the murder to her relatives.
Prosecutors had claimed that signs of suffocation could have disappeared due to the body decomposing. They also dismissed the psychologist’s testimony as being inconsistent with other evidence and difficult to prove in court.
In 2002, the district court endorsed Haraguchi’s appeal to reopen the case due to “doubts about the credibility of confessions as interrogators are suspected of having forced or guided the statements.”
That decision, however, was turned down by the Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court in 2004. Her second plea for a retrial in 2010 was also eventually dismissed.
According to the ruling upheld by the top court in 1981, Haraguchi, conspiring with the three, strangled Nakamura with a towel and abandoned his body in a cattle stable beside his home in October 1979.
The three relatives were Nakamura’s two brothers and a nephew. The eldest brother was married to Haraguchi at the time.
The three were sentenced to up to eight years in prison in 1980 and the rulings were finalized without appeal.
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Case Timeline
2014/07/15
High court rejects appeal for retrial over 1979 murder case
July 15, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
MIYAZAKI, Japan (Kyodo) -- A Japanese high court rejected on Tuesday an appeal for a retrial filed by a woman who served a 10-year prison term for the murder of her brother-in-law in 1979.
Ayako Haraguchi, 87, has consistently pleaded not guilty to killing Kunio Nakamura, whose body was found in Osaki, Kagoshima Prefecture. But the confessions of three of Haraguchi's relatives, considered accomplices, were critical in the guilty verdicts.
It was Haraguchi's second attempt to seek a retrial. The decision by the Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court came after the Kagoshima District Court dismissed her request in March last year, saying it was difficult to conclude that the three relatives were led by investigators into making false confessions.
During her first attempt to seek a retrial, the district court had decided to reopen the case in 2002, but the decision was overturned by the high court branch in 2004. The Supreme Court supported the high court's judgment in 2006.
In an attempt to undermine the credibility of the statements of the three relatives, Haraguchi's defense counsel referred to a forensic report casting doubt on the court's findings that the victim was strangled with a towel.
It also submitted a psychologist's written opinion stating the confessions were most likely not based on their personal experiences.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, disclosed 213 new items of evidence to the defense counsel during the appeal trial, such as notes taken during the early stage of the investigation.
Haraguchi was given a 10-year prison term in 1980 by the district court and fought through to the Supreme Court but her appeal was turned down. She was released from jail in 1990 after completing her term.
The three relatives -- Nakamura's two brothers and a nephew of his -- were also sentenced to prison terms of up to eight years. The eldest brother was Haraguchi's husband at the time.
Murderess ex-con, 78, loses Supreme Court retrial bid
The Japan Times: Feb. 2, 2006
The Supreme Court has rejected a special appeal for a retrial for a 78-year-old woman who was convicted and served time for murdering her brother-in-law in 1979, her lawyers said Wednesday.
The top court upheld a high court decision that new evidence presented in the case was not sufficient to hold a new trial, they said.
Ayako Haraguchi, who served a 10-year prison term, said Wednesday in Kagoshima that she will consult with her lawyers about Monday's decision and will continue to try to have her name cleared.
In October 1979, Kunio Nakamura, a 42-year-old farmer, was found dead in a cattle barn near his home in the town of Osaki, Kagoshima Prefecture.
Haraguchi and three others -- Nakamura's two brothers and one of his nephews -- were charged with murder. The two brothers confessed to the slaying.
The Kagoshima District Court ruled Nakamura had been strangled with a towel, and sentenced Haraguchi to 10 years and the brothers to seven years each for murder and abandoning a corpse. The nephew was given one year for abandoning a corpse.
The three men did not appeal, but Haraguchi went all the way to the Supreme Court.Haraguchi and the nephew filed for a retrial in 1995 after serving their sentences.Their defense team presented the court with a document that said there was a possibility the death might have been caused by Nakamura falling and breaking his neck that day.
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77-year-old murderess denied retrial by high court
2004 Dec 10
MIYAZAKI (Kyodo) A high court on Thursday rejected the retrial plea of a 77-year-old woman who served 10 years in prison for the murder of her brother-in-law in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1979.
Ayako Haraguchi, who insists she is innocent, served 10 years for murdering farmer Kunio Nakamura, 42, in October 1979.
In 2002, the Kagoshima District Court moved to reopen the trial. The Fukuoka High Court's Miyazaki branch reversed this decision Thursday, however, stating that new evidence produced by the defense lacks substance.
Nakamura's body was found in a barn next to his house in the town of Osaki.
Haraguchi, her husband and another brother of the victim were later charged with murder, while a cousin of the victim, Yoshinori Nakamura, was charged with having joined the three others in dumping the victim's body.
In 1980, the Kagoshima District Court ruled that Haraguchi and the two other murder defendants had strangled the victim with a towel.
Haraguchi appealed the ruling, but her conviction was finalized by the Supreme Court in 1981. The three others did not appeal the district court verdict.
After completing her 10-year term in 1990, Haraguchi filed a plea with the Kagoshima court in 1995. Yoshinori Nakamura later joined her in the retrial plea.
In March 2002, the Kagoshima court decided to reopen the case, citing suspicions that the investigators who handled the case may have coerced one of the accused, who was mentally retarded, to make a false confession that also implicated Haraguchi in the crime.
The Kagoshima court also stated that new evidence produced after the first trial raised doubt over whether the victim had been strangled, as police had alleged.
Prosecutors appealed the 2002 decision, saying the initial investigation had been conducted appropriately.
Yoshinori Nakamura committed suicide in 2001. His mother, who took over her son's retrial campaign, died in January.
Haraguchi's lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.
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