Guilty verdict scrapped; man acquitted of aiding murder 2008/04/23 FUKUOKA

The Fukuoka High Court on Tuesday acquitted a man accused of acting as an accomplice in a murder case, overruling a lower court decision that sentenced him to three years and six months in prison. Judge Hiroo Suyama said, ‘‘There is no evidence to indicate the defendant helped his co-defendant,’’ clearing Kenichi Ide, 37, of the charge of aiding the murder.
The main defendant is Yuko Takahashi, 52, who was sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband in 1994 and then her next spouse in 2000 in Fukuoka Prefecture for insurance money. Ide was indicted as Takahashi’s accomplice in the 1994 murder.


Acquittal of man for helping woman murder ex-husband confirmed 2008/05/08

FUKUOKA -- The acquittal of a man who was accused of assisting with the murder of an ex-husband of a former bar owner was confirmed after prosecutors did not appeal a not-guilty ruling by the deadline. Kenichi Ide, 37, a former home tutor from Saza, Nagasaki Prefecture, was acquitted of assisting with the murder of a former husband of Yuko Takahashi, 52, a former owner of a bar in the Nakasu district of Fukuoka. Ide had been indicted on charges of conspiring with Takahashi to fatally stab Takahashi's second husband at the victim's home in October 1994, but he had pleaded not guilty.

The Fukuoka District Court convicted Ide of assisting with the murder of Takahashi's former husband, but the Fukuoka High Court overturned the lower court ruling and acquitted Ide on April 22 this year. The acquittal was confirmed after prosecutors did not appeal the high court ruling by Wednesday -- the deadline for an appeal. "I just want them to leave me alone," Ide said in a comment released through his lawyer after the high court ruling.

Ide used to serve as a home tutor for the eldest son of Takahashi between 1993 and 1994 while he was a graduate student at Kyushu University. Takahashi has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Fukuoka District Court for killing her two former husbands in a bid to collect life insurance benefits. She has appealed the sentence. 連続保険金殺人：男性の無罪が確定　福岡高検が上告断念 　福岡市・中洲の元スナックママ、高橋裕子被告（５２）＝控訴中＝による連続保険金殺人事件で、元家庭教師の男性（３７）に逆転無罪を言い渡した先月２２日の福岡高裁判決について、福岡高検は上告期限の７日、上告を断念した。男性は殺人罪に問われ、１審・福岡地裁が殺人ほう助罪を認定したが、高裁判決によって逮捕から約３年半ぶりに無罪が確定した。 　男性は長崎県佐々町に住む無職、井手健一さん（３７）。井手さんは判決後に弁護人を通して「そっとしておいてほしい」とのコメントを残している。