The Tokyo High Court has upheld a 2005 Mito District Court decision that granted a retrial to two men who were convicted of a 1967 murder-robbery and spent 29 years behind bars. The case lacked material evidence and the prosecution relied on confessions to build the case.
The high court said the confessions and new evidence presented by the defense counsel are incongruous with significant facts pertaining to the slaying. Since both the district and high courts have granted a retrial, the prosecution should not appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
In August 1967, a carpenter was found dead at his home in the town of Tone, Ibaraki Prefecture. The Supreme Court in 1978 finalized the two men's life sentence in their conviction of the strangulation death of the carpenter and the robbery of some ¥100,000 in cash. The two were released on parole in 1996.