Major Exonerations in Japan
Supreme Court Confirmed Death Sentences: 4 (1983-1989)
High Court Death Sentences: 1 (2017)
Life Imprisonment 3 (1986/2009/2011)
Only four confirmed death penalties have been reversed in Japan in the postwar period. (In contrast, 160+ cases have been reversed in the USA since 1977.) And of these four cases, all occurred over a short five year period from 1983 to 1989--three withing a short span of 12 months. What does this indicate about the freedom of judges in a strongly hierarchical and bureaucratically controlled Ministry of Justice?
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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免田 Kumamoto 1948/12/29 |
Menda Sakae Incarcerated: 34 years |
Murder, Robbery ~~~~~~ Yes |
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Summary Menda became the first defendant (of only four) to be released from death row in the postwar era. Court Chronology District Court 1950/03/23 Death High Court 1951/03/19 Death Supreme Court 1951/12/25 Death Later Actions 56/08/10 Third Appeal for Retrial Accepted (Kumamoto D.C.) 59/04/15 Request is cancelled (Fukuoka H.C.) 79/09/27 Sixth Appeal for Retrial Accepted (Fukuoka H.C.) 80/12/11 Prosecution's protest of retrial is rejected. (S.C.) 83/07/15 Not Guilty (Kumamoto D.C. Yachiyo Branch) EXONERATED! |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Saitagawa 財田川 Kagawa 1950/02/28 |
Taniguchi Shigeyoshi |
Murder, robbery |
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Summary One of four postwar death sentence exonerations. The judge who heard the petition for retrial died quit the bench in order to defend Taniguchi. His hardwork was fruitful and the defendant was released after 34 years in prison. Court Chronology District Court 52/02/20 Death High Court 56/06/08 Appeal Denied Supreme Court 57/01/22 Later Actions 1979/06/07 retrial granted 1983/March Former judge turned attorney Yano dies. 1984/03/12 EXONERATED 2005/07/26 Taniguchi dies. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Matsuyama 1955/10/18 |
Saito Yoshio Incarcerated: 28.5 years |
Murder, robbery, arson |
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Summary The defendant was charged with murdering a family of four, committing robbery and setting the house on fire. Court Chronology District Court 1957/10/29 Death High Court 1959/05/26 Death Supreme Court 1960/11/01 Death Later Actions 1979/12 Retrial Granted 1984/07 Not Guilty Exonerated! State Redress Suit filed in civil court. 1991/07 Sendai D. C. Denied. 2006/07/05 Saito passes away. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Shimada 島田事件 Shizuoka 1954/03 |
Akabori Incarcerated: 34 years |
Murder ~~~~~ Yes |
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Summary Akabori, who is autistic, was arrested and charged for murdering a child. He is one of only four people whose death sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court, and was later found innocent. Court Chronology District Court Death 1958/05/23 Death High Court Death 1960/02/17 Death Supreme Court 1960/02/17 Death Confirmed Later Actions 1986/05/30 Retrial granted Shizuoka District Court rejects 4th appeal. High court accepts and remands to district court for hearings. 1989/01 Not Guilty |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ |
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平野母子殺害放火事件 Hirano Mother-Daughter Murder Case Osaka April 14, 2002 |
Mori Takemitsu 森健充実 |
Murder x2, Arson ( More ) |
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Summary On April 14, 2002, 28 year old Maymi Mori and her 1 year old son were found dead. Seven months later, Takemitsu Mori, an Osaka prison guard, and step-father in law of the decedents, was arrested. He was later charged with murder. The case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. The police also admitted to losing 71 of 72 cigarette butts initially included in the investigation. Court Chronology District Court 2005/08 Life Imprisonment. High Court 2006/12 Death. Supreme Court 2010/04/27 Decision is overturned and remanded. ~~~~~~~~~ District Court 2012/March15 Not Guilty High Court 2017/March 2 Not Guilty Later Actions It was revealed that police lost large amounts of evidence. |
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Life Imprisonment Cases: Exonerations
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges ~~~~ Confessed? |
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Umeda 梅田 ~~~~~ Hokkaido Kitami City 1950/Oct 1952 |
Umeda Yoshimitsu |
Murder, Robbery ~~~~~~~ Yes to police. Denied the confession in court |
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Summary A forestry official was robbed and murdered. Two years later, Umeda was arrested Court Chronology District Court Life Imprisonment High Court 57/11 Confirmed Supreme Court Later Actions 71/05 Paroled 82/12 Retrial granted. 86/08 Not Guilty 07/06/20 Umeda dies. |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges |
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Tochigi 1990/May 1991/Dec 2 |
Sugaya Toshikazu born 1947 Incarcerated for 17.5 years |
Murder & rape of a four year old girl |
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Summary In May of 1990, a deceased four year old girl's body was found along the bank of a river. She had been sexually molested. 19 months laters, faced with a lingering murder/molestation cold case, police extract a confession from the day care center's bus driver. Though the DNA evidence from the victim's underwear excludes Suga, the court weighs the confession and sentences him to like imprisonment. Court Chronology District Court 1993 Life Imprisonment Utsunomiya High Court 1997 " Tokyo Supreme Court 2000/07/17 Confirmed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later Actions The Nichibenren's Human Right's Protection Committee forms a task force to reopen the case. 06/08/21-civil suit against the state's forensic witness opens. 08/02/13 Retrial Request Rejected (Utsunomiya DC). 09/June DNA evidence indicates Sugaya is not culprit-released from prison. 2009/October Exonerated 2011/January State pays 80,000,000 yen ($950,00) in compensation |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges |
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布川 Ibaragi 1967/08/30 |
Sakurai Shoji (20) Arrested 67/10/10 Sugiyama Takao (20) Arrested 1967/10/16 |
Murder Robbery |
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Summary A 62 year old woman was found strangled in her home in the village of Fukawa located in Tonegawa-cho, Ibaragi-ken. After investigating well over a hundred people, police eliminated all but some ten or more from a list of suspects. At first, Sakurai was arrested for theft of a belt and a single pair of trousers. He denied the charges but five days later he confessed to the murdering the victim with Sugiyama as accomplice. Court Chronology District Court 70/10/06 Life Imprisonment High Court 73/12/20 Life Imprisonment Supreme Court 78/07/03 Confirmed Later Actions 83/12/23 Request for retrial requested 1996 Defendants are paroled 2005/09/21 Retrial Granted 2007/12/15 Supreme Court affirms retrial request. 2011/May/25 Exonerated! |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges |
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東住吉 1995 Osaka |
Tatsuhiro Boku (M 29) Keiko Aoki (F 29) |
Murder, Arson , Insurance Fraud ~~~~~~ Yes. |
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Summary On July 22, 1995, a house fire killed the 11 year old daughter of the defendants. Because she was insured for15 million yen ($125,000), and since they were unmarried and living together--Japanese/ Korean common law marriage--the police surmised conspiracy, and violently extracted confessions to arson, murder and insurance fraud. Court Chronology District Court 1999/03/30 Boku: Life Imprisonment 1999/05/18 Aoki: Life Imprisonment High Court 2004/11/02 Aoki: Life Imprisonment 2004/12/20 Boku: Life Imprisonment Supreme Court 2006/10/27 Boku Appeal is rejected 2006/12/11 Aoki Appeal is rejected. RETRIALS: District Court 2009/07/07 Boku files for retrial. District Court: 2012/03/07 Retrials Granted. Sentences are stayed allowing defendants to leave prison. Prosecution appeals both decisions. Osaka High court overrules the staying of sentences. High Court 2015/10/23 High Court affirms retrial and grants stays of sentences. Aoki and Boku are released from prison. District Court: 2016/04/28 Boku's retrial begins. Prosecution declines further litigation. 2016/05/02 Aoki's retrial begins. Prosecution declines further litigation. 2018/08/10 Not Guilty. Later Actions |
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Case Name Location Date of Incident Date of Arrest |
Defendant's Name(s) (Family First) F=female |
Charges |
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Hikinoguchi 2004/03/24 |
Katagishi Mitsuko (F) b. 1948 |
Murder Arson ~~~~~ Yes |
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Summary After a fire destroyed the home of an alcoholic infirm man, the police arrested his sisterupon noticing that she recently withdrew 2,000,000 yen from his savings account. The only evidence in this case is a witness with a lengthy crime history and a history of drug addiction who claims hearing a jailhouse confession. Court Chronology District Court Not Guilty: Arson and Murder. Guilty: withdrawing funds High Court Prosecution abandons arson and murder charges. Defendant appeals financial charge Supreme Court Later Actions |
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