TOKYO -- A man who spent more than half his life on death row was found not guilty of murder today in a retrial that ended a 30-year court battle.
In reversing a guilty verdict once upheld by the Supreme Court, the district court at Yatsushiro in southern Japan pronounced Sakae Menda, 57, not guilty of robbing and murdering an elderly couple 35 years ago, court officials said.
Menda was the first death convict to be released in Japan's judiciary history.
'Thank you very much. I am free today thanks to all your support,' Menda told a cheering crowd after the five-hour court session.
In announcing the not-guilty verdict before a packed court room, Motoyasu Kawakami, the chief judge of a three-member panel, supported the defense counsel's contention that Menda, then 22, spent the night of the murder at a prostitution house, court officials said.
The prosecution said they would decide whether to appeal the court decision after a close study of the verdict. They agreed to set Menda free after pressure from Japan's lawyers association, officials said.
Menda has been on death row since the Supreme Court quashed an appeal in December 1951. He was first convicted in March 1950 by the Yatsushiro district court on charges of killing Kakuzo Shirafuku, a 76-year-old faith healer, and his wife following a robbery attempt.
According to police records, Shirafuku and his wife were found hacked to death and their two daughters wounded after resisting a robber who broke into their home in the early hours of Dec. 30, 1948.
Menda was arrested two weeks after the murder on a separate charge. In proving its murder case, the prosecution relied on a pre-trial confession the defendant allegedly gave to police regarding the murder.
Menda recanted his confessions in the original trial and the defense counsel has since insisted the confessions were 'forcefully extracted.'
The Supreme Court ordered a retrial in December 1980 after the defense counsel submitted new evidence that cast doubt on the original conviction.
During the two-year retrial, the defense counsel turned up a key witness for Menda, a former prostitute who testified she spent the night with the defendant when the murder took place.
Receipts of Menda's stay in the prostitution house also were presented as evidence.
