Court upholds acquittal for man facing gallows for 2002 double murder in Osaka.
MAR 2, 2017
OSAKA – The Osaka High Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s acquittal of a man previously sentenced to death for murdering his daughter-in-law and her son before setting fire to their Osaka apartment in 2002.
Takemitsu Mori, a 59-year-old prison guard on administrative leave, was acquitted by the Osaka District Court in March 2012 after the Supreme Court ordered a retrial, repealing the high court’s death sentence in a rare decision.
The focus of the case was what to make of the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecutors while Mori consistently denied the charges, saying he had never entered the apartment.
Mori did not attend the trial because retrials at higher courts do not oblige defendants to be present.
Presiding Judge Shinichiro Fukuzaki rejected the prosecutor’s claim that Mori’s knowledge about the location of furniture in the apartment proved he had been there. The judge said the defendant could have learned the arrangement from conversations with family members after the incident.
Mori was arrested in November 2002, seven months after Mayumi Mori, 28, and her 1-year-old son Toma were found dead in their apartment in Osaka’s Hirano Ward on April 14 that year. The woman was found strangled and her son drowned.
In April 2010, the Supreme Court rejected both the life sentence handed down by a district court and the death penalty by a high court, declaring that the court needed to see evidence proving that only the defendant could have committed the crime.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Osaka District Court found Mori not guilty, saying there was no evidence that proved he entered the apartment on the day of the incident.
In the latest examination at the high court, a DNA analysis was conducted on a dog harness that prosecutors alleged to be the murder weapon, but no link to Mori was found.
Prosecutors requested a review of the lower court’s acquittal as saliva found on a cigarette butt discovered in a staircase at the apartment matched Mori’s DNA and an eyewitness saw a car of the same type and color as Mori’s near the apartment.
The defense counsel asked the court to reject the appeal, arguing that the court was presented with no credible evidence showing that the cigarette butt was discarded on the day of the incident.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Man once sentenced to death cleared of murder-arson charges
(Mainichi Japan) March 15, 2012
OSAKA (Kyodo) -- The Osaka District Court on Thursday acquitted a man previously sentenced to death for killing his daughter-in-law and her son and setting fire to their apartment in Osaka in 2002.
A three-judge panel of the court handed down the ruling after the Supreme Court in April 2010 repealed a high court decision sentencing the defendant, Takemitsu Mori, 54, to death and ordered a retrial.
It is the first time since 1990 that a defendant previously sentenced to death in a high court ruling has subsequently been found not guilty in a retrial ordered by the Supreme Court.
During both the original trial and retrial, defendant Mori pleaded not guilty, saying he had never entered the apartment of the woman and her son on the day of the alleged murders and arson. On Thursday, the district court ruled there was no evidence to prove he entered the apartment that day.
Mori was arrested in November 2002, seven months after the victims -- Mayumi Mori, 28, and her 1-year-old son Toma -- were found dead in their apartment in Osaka's Hirano Ward on April 14 that year. Mori was also accused of setting fire to the apartment.
In the original trial, the Osaka District Court found Mori guilty and sentenced him in August 2005 to life imprisonment. The Osaka High Court subsequently revoked the district court decision and sentenced Mori to death in December 2006 as sought by prosecutors.
The focal point of the retrial was whether circumstantial evidence presented by prosecutors was sufficient to find him guilty.
In Thursday's ruling, Presiding Judge Kazuo Mizushima said there was no evidence that proved the defendant had entered the apartment that day and added it was doubtful Mori had ever visited the apartment.
At the time of the crimes, Mori was working as a guard at Osaka Prison and was married to Mayumi's mother-in-law. They later divorced. He has been on leave from his job since his indictment.
During the investigation, police collected 72 cigarette butts from a staircase at the apartment and found that saliva on one of them matched Mori's DNA type.
In Thursday's decision, Mizushima said the victim might have thrown away the cigarette butts and it was difficult to conclude from that one piece of evidence that the defendant had visited the apartment on the day of the crimes.
Mizushima brushed aside new test results presented by prosecutors regarding the color change of the cigarette butt, saying the results were not based on experts' advice and scientific knowledge. The judge also criticized the police for having disposed of the other 71 cigarette butts.
During the original trials at the district and high courts, prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence to suggest Mori's involvement in the case because of the absence of direct evidence linking him to the crimes.
Tadafumi Oshima, deputy chief prosecutor at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, said it is regrettable the prosecutors' arguments had not been accepted.
(Mainichi Japan) March 15, 2012
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
大阪母子殺害、差し戻し審は無罪判決 ２審では死刑
大阪市平野区のマンションで２００２年４月、母子を殺害したとして殺人と現住建造物等放火の罪に問われ、二審で求刑通り死刑判決を受けた大阪刑務所職員 の森健充（たけみつ）被告（５４）＝起訴休職中＝に対する差し戻し審の判決が１５日午後、大阪地裁であった。水島和男裁判長は、森被告に無罪を言い渡し た。検察側は控訴を検討するとみられる。
最高裁によると、二審の死刑判決が差し戻された事件で無罪が言い渡されるのは、１９７２年の石川県山中町（現・加賀市）の林道で元タクシー運転手が殺害された「山中事件」（無罪確定）以来２２年ぶり。
森被告は０２年４月１４日午後３時半～午後９時４０分の間、義理の息子の妻だったまゆみさん（当時２８）と長男瞳真（とうま）ちゃん（同１）を殺害し、室内に放火したとして否認のまま起訴された。公判でも「被害者宅に入っていない」と訴えた。
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~