Japan high court denies retrial of 95-year-old woman over 1979 murder

claimed that the brother-in-law died from respiratory arrest after suffering a cervical cord injury when he fell into a ditch

Wouldn't have been really easy for the autopsy to determine whether he died from that as opposed to strangulation from a towel, as the prosecution claims?

You would have thought so, JeffLee, but then the prosecutors would not have tied up another criminal case and got their win bonus, I guess.

the additional material "did not serve as clear proof to acquit her."

But did it serve to introduce sufficient doubt into her conviction? That would seem to be the criterion to this bemused-at-Japanese-justice layperson.

the verdict is scripted from the beginning. judges wrote what they want. I guess they did not even check the case ... "no error in judgment" is extremely suspicious as humans especially judges are not perfect. it cost nothing to reopen the case.

the judge does not want to reinvestigate for selfish reasons.

Wouldn't have been really easy for the autopsy to determine whether he died from that as opposed to strangulation from a towel, as the prosecution claims?

All based upon the assumption that an actual autopsy took place in the first place. Would not surprise me one bit that the autopsy and police "findings" somehow were made to match what they suspected to be the cause of the crime, rather than what actually may have happened

is extremely suspicious as humans especially judges are not perfect. it cost nothing to reopen the case.

Actually it costs a hell of a lot of money to reopen the case. Lawyers fees, court time, and all people associated with it, police, investigators and lord only knows what else.

It's a huge cost, paid for mostly by taxpayer money.

Oh and if you havent noticed, judges here are expected to be perfect, even when they arent, they are!

YubaruToday  08:07 am JST

judge and police are paid by the taxpayer to sleep in koban. there is no heavier burden for citizens. Moreover, there is no fact but only suspicion and speculations.

there is no reason for a 95years old woman to go to jail. the Jail will be just the grave.

"there is no reason for a 95years old woman to go to jail."

Age makes one above the law?

jail is used as a punishment before reintegrating into society. 95years old woman's life is ending. there is no reason for a 95years old woman to go to jail especially as no evidence of a crime has been found, it was just speculation.

It is absolutely out of the question to ever admit the court's wrongdoing. Lol.

It's pretty sad that these sketchy trials still find a guilty party every time. Very rarely do you see a mistrial in Japan, or someone wrongly convicted... Which is another scary thought.

There are some problems with this case! First of all, many crime cases in the 70s and 80s and even now but more so back then were forced confessions which were brought along with physical force, intimidation tactics, sleep deprivacy, food being brandished but only until you confess, you can have it or a smoke. So you can't really trust the results of cases from that era.

Secondly, the autopsy photographs were reexamined by a doctor? Why not a criminal forensics specialist and a coronor? That's like bringing your fridge to a mechanic to repair!

Also, didn't she finish her 10 year sentence? Why is the JGov't.....you know what? Nevermind! I don't even want to finish that sentence!

@JeffLee Today 07:07 am JST

Wouldn't have been really easy for the autopsy to determine whether he died from that as opposed to strangulation from a towel, as the prosecution claims?

It depends. Unless you are assuming a high degree of intentional malice from the person who did the autopsy, the most likely bet is that the autopsy showed objective signs of being strangulated.

Once the conviction is appealed to the last, the burden of proof is no longer in favor of the defense. The defense needs now to prove that this Ayako Haraguchi didn't try to strangulate the victim, rather than just raising "reasonable doubt" that he didn't die from strangulation but from a cervical injury. They need to show more than possible "unreliability", but prove the neighbors lied.

@indigo

Maybe read the article. She's not in jail

"It is absolutely out of the question to ever admit the court's wrongdoing. Lol."

Seems like there's nary a post that admits the court's rightdoing

I wonder how those judges are living their daily lives, laughing, sleeping soundly, kissing or hugging their children, spouses, enjoying their vacations... the world is certainly going to an end.

District court seems to misunderstood the situation. It wasn’t supposed to decide if the new evidence is credible enough to set her free, or not. It was supposed to decide if there should be retrial. It seems like there was confusion.

I bet that the master evidence that got her in jail is a confession.

A confesion after several weeks of solitary confinement and endless interrogations without ever contact any lawyer or family member.

@indigo = "there is no reason for a 95years old woman to go to jail. the Jail will be just the grave."

Fortunately she was in jail only from 1979 for ten years, and has been free since. She is only trying to clear her name before she dies.