The Tokyo High Court on Friday rejected a retrial plea lodged by a former professional boxer who has been on death row for 36 years over the 1966 murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The decision was conveyed in the morning to the defense counsel of Iwao Hakamada, 68, who has been seeking a retrial for the past 23 years.
While Hakamada confessed to the crime during an initial police investigation, he later pleaded not guilty in court.
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