Nakata Mitsuru
Published Thursday, September 16, 2021
A high court denied Wednesday an appeal lodged by the defense of a former policeman who a lower court ruled should be put to death for the murder of his wife and 2 children at their southwestern Japan home in June 2017.
The Fukuoka High Court rejected an appeal by Mitsuru Nakata, 43, saying the district court was correct in its findings and decision to impose the death penalty given the seriousness of the crime.
Nakata's lawyers had argued his innocence during the appeal.
In the absence of witness accounts or a confession, the Fukuoka District Court found in December 2019 that Nakata was guilty of the murders, ruling out the possibility an intruder was responsible based on the police investigation and other evidence including security camera footage from near their home.
His defense team had claimed that the 3 could have died after Nakata went to work in the morning, saying the possibility the crime was committed by an outsider cannot be ruled out.
Presiding high court Judge Yasuo Tsujikawa said testimony provided by a forensic scientist that said the three victims had died before the defendant went to work was credible.
"The judgment of the district court, which rejected the possibility of a crime by an outsider, was not unreasonable," Tsujikawa said.
According to the district and high court rulings, Nakata, then a sergeant with the Fukuoka prefectural police department, strangled his wife Yukiko, 38, son Ryosuke, 9, and daughter Miyu, 6, at their home in Ogori sometime between the late hours of June 5, 2017, and the following morning.
The lower court had highlighted an injury on Nakata's arm believed to have been sustained when his wife was resisting his attack as evidence he was involved.
A DNA sample of material taken from under one of the woman's fingernails matched that of Nakata.
The victims' bodies were discovered by the wife's sister, who visited the house in the early morning of June 6 after Nakata left for work.
The wife's bereaved family said after the latest ruling was handed down: "Now we just wish to spend our time quietly with the memories of Yukiko, Ryosuke and Miyu."
Source: abs-cbn.com, Staff, September 15, 2021
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Ex-policeman sentenced to death over 2017 murder of wife, 2 kids in Fukuoka
December 13, 2019 (Mainichi Japan)
This court illustration shows Mitsuru Nakata listening as he is sentenced to death for choking his wife and two children to death at their home in Fukuoka Prefecture, on Dec. 13, 2019. (Kyodo)
FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- A court sentenced a former policeman to death Friday for choking his wife and two children to death at their home in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in June 2017.
Mitsuru Nakata, 41, had denied the allegations at the time of his arrest and throughout his lay judge trial at the Fukuoka District Court, while prosecutors sought the death penalty.
Presiding Judge Toshihiro Shibata said the court took into account the social impact of the "shocking crime."
In the absence of witness accounts or a confession, prosecutors pointed to the couple's strained relationship as the defendant's motive, and said the possibility of an intruder could be ruled out based on police investigations and evidence including security camera footage near their home.
Prosecutors also said that Nakata was at home and awake at the time of the victims' deaths, and there was an injury on his arm believed to be a defensive wound, an assertion which Nakata's defense team rebutted.
According to the ruling, Nakata, then a sergeant with the Fukuoka prefectural police, strangled his wife Yukiko, 38, son Ryosuke, 9, and daughter Miyu, 6, at their home sometime between the late hours of June 5, 2017, and the following morning.
The victims' bodies were discovered by the wife's sister, who visited the house in the early morning of June 6 after Nakata left for work.