Japan has acquitted a man sentenced to death in 1968
A court in Japan has acquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamata, who was sentenced to death for killing four people in 1968. This was reported by Kyodo News on Thursday, September 26.
The former employee of a miso paste company was arrested in 1966 for the alleged murder of the firm's senior managing director, his wife and their two children in Shizuoka Prefecture.
At the same time, the man was accused of robbing and setting fire to the victims' home. He was sentenced to death based on expert testimony that blood traces on five articles of clothing found in a container of miso matched the blood types of the victims and the defendant himself.
Last October, the prisoner's defense said the evidence was fabricated by investigators. Tokyo's highest court and the Supreme Court confirmed the information.
During his 50 years in prison, the defendant's psychological condition deteriorated, but his family continued to support him.
Earlier, on June 23, a court in Texas dropped charges against Kerry Max Cook, who spent about 20 years waiting for the death penalty and trying to prove non-involvement in a murder committed back in 1977. The defense of the defendant proved that all evidence of his guilt was falsified by the prosecution and the cellmate of the American.
