- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,051
- 18,903
Today, the Osaka District Court dismissed a lawsuit seeking 16.5 million yen (approximately $112,230) in state compensation filed by three lawyers who had represented a death row inmate executed while his request for retrial was still pending.
The lawyers argued that the government violated their rights as defence counsel and caused them emotional distress by executing their client, a former yakuza member, during the retrial petition process. Although the court acknowledged that "careful consideration is required," it concluded that allowing repeated retrial requests could lead to indefinite delays in carrying out death sentences.
The plaintiffs had represented Keizo Okamoto (formerly Kawamura), a former senior member of an organised crime group, whose death sentence for robbery and murder was finalised in 2004. Okamoto maintained that he had not intended to commit robbery and continued to seek a revision of his conviction. Despite this, he was executed in December 2018 during the submission of his fourth retrial request.
Kana Sasakura, a professor at Konan University and an expert on the death penalty, offered the United States' protocol for these situations: death row executions are put off until the court reaches a final verdict if there is a motion that constitutes a request for a retrial.
The lawyers argued that the government violated their rights as defence counsel and caused them emotional distress by executing their client, a former yakuza member, during the retrial petition process. Although the court acknowledged that "careful consideration is required," it concluded that allowing repeated retrial requests could lead to indefinite delays in carrying out death sentences.
The plaintiffs had represented Keizo Okamoto (formerly Kawamura), a former senior member of an organised crime group, whose death sentence for robbery and murder was finalised in 2004. Okamoto maintained that he had not intended to commit robbery and continued to seek a revision of his conviction. Despite this, he was executed in December 2018 during the submission of his fourth retrial request.
Kana Sasakura, a professor at Konan University and an expert on the death penalty, offered the United States' protocol for these situations: death row executions are put off until the court reaches a final verdict if there is a motion that constitutes a request for a retrial.
