Man wins historic acquittal in retrial of 1966 quadruple murder in Japan

A Japanese court on Thursday acquitted an 88-year-old former professional boxer in a high-profile retrial decades after he was sentenced to death in 1966 for quadruple murder, arguing that investigators had falsified evidence.

Iwao Hakamata spent nearly half a century on death row before being released in 2014 based on new evidence. That same year, he was recognized as the world's longest-serving death row inmate.

The Hakamata case is the fifth time in post-war Japan that retrials after the death penalty have resulted in acquittals. The four previous verdicts became final without the prosecutors having filed an appeal.

In its ruling, the Shizuoka District Court said there were “three cases of falsification of evidence,” including five items of clothing that Hakamata was said to have worn during the incident and his confession, which the court said was coerced. The clothing played a key role in his conviction.

Regarding the clothes found 14 months later in a miso tank near the crime scene, the court supported the defense's claim that the reddish color could not have come from blood stains from the time of the incident, because blood stains on clothes soaked in miso for more than a year do not remain red.

Presiding Judge Koshi Kunii also said in his ruling that Hakamata's confessions were “coerced by the infliction of physical and mental pain” and called his interrogation “inhumane.”

Hakamata's mental state deteriorated due to his long imprisonment. Signs of psychological distress began to appear around 1980, when his death sentence became final. His 91-year-old sister has appeared in court on her brother's behalf since the retrial began last October.

“We have obtained an acquittal,” Hideko told his supporters outside the district court. “Thank you for all your support over the years.”

Iwao Hakamata walks in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Kyodo)

After the verdict was announced, Kunii apologized to Hideko and said, “As a court, we are truly sorry that the trial took so long.”

The ruling came after the Tokyo High Court ordered a retrial in March last year, arguing that there was a strong probability that the five items of clothing had been planted by investigators.

The Supreme Court initially decided not to reopen the case in 2018, but changed course when the Supreme Court ordered it to review its ruling in 2020.

The focus now turns to whether prosecutors, who again asked for the death penalty in the retrial, will appeal Thursday's verdict. The defense team has urged prosecutors not to challenge an acquittal.

“We will carefully examine the verdict and deal with it accordingly,” said Kenshi Konagamitsu, deputy chief prosecutor at the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutors' Office.

It took more than nine years for the case to be reopened after the Shizuoka District Court granted it a retrial in 2014 after prosecutors appealed the decision.

Hakamata first requested a retrial in 1981. And since it took decades for his trial to finally begin last year, legal experts are now calling for a revision of the retrial process, which places high hurdles in the way of convicted people having their cases reopened.

Some also hope that the debate over abolishing the death penalty in Japan will gain momentum, as Hakamata continues to suffer the effects of being a post-incarcerated person, not knowing for decades when he will be executed, and having little contact with people outside his cell.

The former boxer was an employee of a miso manufacturer when he was arrested in 1966. He was accused of killing the company's chief executive, his wife and two of their children. They were found dead of stab wounds in their burned-down house in Shizuoka Prefecture.

He was charged with murder, robbery and arson. The death sentence was based on the verdict that the blood stains on the five items of clothing found in the miso tank matched the blood type of the victims and Hakamata.

During intensive interrogation, he initially confessed to the murders, but pleaded not guilty at his trial.

What follows is a chronology of the most important events surrounding the murder of four people in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966.

June 30, 1966 – Four family members, including two children, are found murdered in the ruins of the burned-down house of a miso processing company manager in Shizuoka Prefecture.

August – Former professional boxer Iwao Hakamata is arrested on suspicion of murder and robbery.

August 1967 – Bloodstained clothing discovered in a factory’s mist tank.

September 1968 – Hakamata sentenced to death.

December 1980: The Supreme Court finally introduces the death penalty.

April 1981 – Hakamata files his first appeal for a retrial.

August 1994 – The Shizuoka District Court rejects the appeal, and the defense appeals to the Tokyo High Court.

August 2004 – The Tokyo High Court rejects the appeal, and the defense files a special appeal the following month.

March 2008 – The Supreme Court rejects a special appeal.

April – Hakamata’s sister Hideko files a second appeal.

March 27, 2014 – The Shizuoka District Court decides to reopen the Hakamata case and Hakamata is released.

March 31 – The public prosecutor appeals the decision to reopen the case.

June 11, 2018 – The Tokyo High Court rules against reopening the case.

June 18 – The defense team files an appeal with the Supreme Court.

December 22, 2020 – The Supreme Court sends the case back to the Tokyo High Court.

March 13, 2023 – The Tokyo High Court rules in favor of a retrial.

March 20 – The public prosecutor’s office gives up filing a special appeal; the verdict for the retrial is final.

October 27: The Shizuoka District Court holds the first hearing in Hakamata's retrial.

May 22, 2024 – Prosecutors seek the death penalty in the final hearing.

September 26 – Hakamata is acquitted by the Shizuoka District Court.

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