Expert Explains Why “Don Juan of Kishu” Appeal Trial Concluded on the Same Day by Rejecting All Prosecution Evidence and Witnesses

It was crushed glacial sugar.

Suspicion goes unpunished.

The judiciary’s decision is based on principle, even if the whole of Japan may find the case “suspicious.

On December 8, the Osaka High Court held the first trial for the appeal of Saki Sudo, 29, the ex-wife of Kosuke Nozaki, then 77, a wealthy man known as “Don Juan of Kishu,” for murder.

Sudo is accused of having murdered her ex-husband, Nozaki, seven years ago at their home in Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture, by inducing him to ingest a lethal dose of methamphetamine. The prosecution requested that the acquittal of the first trial be reversed.

However, the prosecution’s request for witness interviews and evidence submitted were all rejected, and the trial was concluded on the same day. The verdict will be handed down on March 23 next year.

It is known that Sudo contacted a dealer in an attempt to purchase methamphetamine and purchased it. However, the prosecution called two witnesses, dealer A and dealer B, whose testimonies differed.

The defendant Sudo was at home when Ms. Nozaki died. The only circumstantial evidence was that he went upstairs an unnatural number of times on the day of the incident, which was recorded on a health care app.

At the first trial, A and B, who were fellow dealers, testified that they gave Sudo methamphetamine, and A said, ‘I gave him real methamphetamine. However, it was dealer B who prepared the methamphetamine that A said he gave him, and B said, ‘All the methamphetamine I gave A was crushed glacial sugar. This made it undeniable that Sudo may have obtained the methamphetamine from the sugarcane. In other words, he was found not guilty of the methamphetamine violation and the murder charge.

Only “compelling reasons” were accepted

Former Osaka Governor and lawyer Toru Hashimoto appeared as a commentator on the December 8 broadcast of the information program “Gogosuma” (TBS).

I am sure that in reality, if you are suspected, you will be punished, and looking back on my comments in the media, I think there were some aspects of that.

The court upheld the ruling, stating, “I think it’s an ideal criminal trial decision.

However, the fact that the prosecution’s evidence and witnesses were rejected at the first trial of the appeals court, and the sentence was suddenly handed down the next time is, to the average person, a bit of a surprise.

Some people may wonder, “Why don’t both sides fight more at the appeals court?”

Some people may wonder, “Why don’t the two sides fight more in the appeals court? This website therefore spoke with attorney Kenta Morimi of Morimi Law Office about the structure of the appeals court.

In principle, new trial documents are not allowed to be submitted in the appeals process of criminal cases. This is because the court of appeals in criminal cases adopts a system of ex post facto review, in which the court of appeals judges the validity of the judgment of the first trial after the fact, based on the record of the trial that took place in the first trial. Therefore, requests for evidence, such as requests for witnesses, are not allowed in principle, but only exceptionally in cases where there are “compelling reasons” to do so. The “compelling reasons” referred to here include, for example, the fact that a settlement has been reached with the victim after the verdict of the first trial. In this case, the court rejected the prosecution’s request for evidence in accordance with the principle, and since there was no need to continue the trial since there was no evidence to examine, the trial was concluded on the same day.

In Japan, the conviction rate is said to be 99.9%. In other words, Sudo’s acquittal was one of only 0.1% of the total, which means that it was a very rare verdict.