Court refuses to accept triple murder confession
(Mainichi Shimbun, Sept. 18, 2004)
SAGA -- A man's confession to the murder of three women in Saga in 1989 has been ruled virtually inadmissible by the Saga District Court, which said the written statement was untrustworthy.
Prosecutors had based their case against Teruhiko Matsue on a 67-page confession to the three killings, but the court on Thursday ruled it would be permitted to use only two of the pages while trying to convict the 41-year-old accused.
"It appears as though this was illegally gathered evidence and there are doubts about whether it was provided voluntarily," Presiding Judge Tsutomu Sakanushi said. "There are many parts of the statement that look as though they have been made through the guidance of investigators." (Mainichi Shimbun, Sept. 18, 2004)