Kobayashi Mitsuhiro
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Death sentence final in Takefuji case
Kyodo News
The Supreme Court has finalized the death sentence it upheld last month for a taxi driver convicted of burning five people to death during a robbery in May 2001 at a Takefuji Corp. branch in Aomori Prefecture, judicial officials said Saturday.
In the final judicial process, the top court turned down a motion of correction filed April 2 by Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, 48, after its ruling March 27, thus finalizing the sentence that makes him the 102nd person now on death row.
A motion of correction is made to seek a re-examination of words and phrases in a Supreme Court ruling. There has never been a case in which the court's judgments have essentially changed.
Kobayashi was convicted of demanding money and scattering a gasoline mixture at a Takefuji branch in the city of Hirosaki on May 8, 2001. He set fire to the premises after the branch manager refused to give him the money, killing five employees and injuring the manager and three other people.
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