Hakamata crime

In the early hours of 30th June 1966, a fire broke out at a miso manufacturing company in Shizuoka city. The accident almost destroyed the building. The bodies of four members of the managing director’s family were found in the burnt-out house. At that time, the police arrested Mr. Hakamata who was a live-in employee for murdering the family, setting fire to the home, and stealing 200,000 yen in cash. He initially denied murdering the family and robbery, but later he confessed following beatings and interrogations that lasted up to 12 hours a day. A year after Hakamata’s arrest, some clothes were found in a miso tank. Those clothes were bloodstained and were used to incriminate him. 

During the trial, he maintained his innocence, but he was sentenced to death, and the sentence was finalized in 1980.

For years, however, Hakamata’s lawyer argued that the DNA recovered from the clothes did not match his. They also further suggested that police could fabricate the evidence.

Their argument was enough to persuade the Judge and Hakamata was released from jail in 2014 as remains on confirmed death row as a row prisoner and was granted a retrial.

In March 2023, the Tokyo High Court allowed a retrial to begin, and after a total 15 hearing, the court was acquitted. It had been 58 years and a month passed before he was innocent.