The Supreme
Court
on Tuesday finalized Masumi Hayashi's death sentence
for killing four people with arsenic-laced curry at a 1998 summer
festival in the city of Wakayama, rejecting her not-guilty plea and
ending an almost decade-long trial.
It's just water:
Masumi Hayashi aims water toward a media crew in the garden of her
Wakayama home in August 1998 before her arrest over the fatal curry
poisonings in her neighborhood the previous month. KYODO
PHOTO
Hayashi, 47, a former insurance saleswoman, was convicted at the
district court level of killing the four and sickening 63 others
who ate the poisoned curry, although there was no direct evidence
to prove her involvement and no clear motive. Her sentence was
upheld in a high court appeal. She was also convicted of trying to
kill an acquaintance for insurance, as well as her husband, Kenji,
63, a pest exterminator, to collect on policies she had taken out
on them.
In a statement released through her lawyers after the decision,
Hayashi said: "There is a true culprit somewhere. I'm determined to
clear myself of this false conviction."
The top court's Third Petty Bench said circumstantial evidence
proves to "a degree that leaves no room for rational doubt" that
Hayashi poisoned the curry and said the failure by the lower courts
to clarify her motive "does not affect the judgment" that she did
it.
Referring to the large impact the poisonings had on society, as
well as Hayashi's unrepentant attitude, the court added: "The
defendant's criminal responsibility is extremely serious . . . the
(top) court has no choice but to approve the death sentence by the
district court."
Hayashi's lawyers plan to petition for a retrial.
The district and high courts were unable to clarify Hayashi's
motive, but prosecutors insisted she was "infuriated by feeling
alienated from housewives in the neighborhood" when she went to
where the curry was being prepared on the day of the festival.
Hayashi's counsel challenged in the top court the credibility of
expert scientific analysis that showed the arsenic in the stew was
identical to samples found in the defendant's home and other
locations linked to her, and of a neighbor's testimony that she was
left alone near the curry for a certain period.
After pleading not guilty when her Wakayama District Court trial
opened in May 1999, Hayashi exercised her right to remain silent.
In 2002, she was sentenced to hang.
She broke her silence during her Osaka High Court appeal, again
declaring herself innocent. The high court in 2005 nonetheless
upheld the sentence, prompting Hayashi's Supreme
Court appeal.
The high court also upheld her conviction for trying to murder
her husband and a male acquaintance by using arsenic with the aim
of obtaining insurance money.
Devoted husband:
Kenji Hayashi, husband of convicted murderer Masumi Hayashi, speaks
to the media at his Wakayama apartment Tuesday after the Supreme
Court finalized his wife's death sentence over the July 1998 fatal
curry poisonings. KYODO PHOTO
Hayashi's counsel was joined by Yoshihiro Yasuda, a well-known
criminal lawyer and campaigner against the death
penalty, at the top court stage.
The defense argued the investigators dealt with the arsenic
samples in a lax manner.
The counsel also said it was possible the witness account of
Hayashi minding the curry pots alone could have been mistaken and
that in fact it was her daughter.
The counsel also noted Hayashi had no motive to commit a random
killing.
Victims of the poisonings are still suffering from aftereffects
of arsenic, with one woman saying, "I feel pain because of my
deformed fingernails and toenails."
The incident took place on July 25, 1998. A 10-year-old child
and a 16-year-old high school girl were among those who died after
eating the poisoned curry.
Hayashi's husband was also convicted of insurance fraud and
received a short prison term in the late 1990s.
In comments to the media after the final decision, Kenji
Hayashi, now living by himself in a Wakayama apartment, said he is
confident his wife is innocent.
"(The Supreme Court ruling) is regrettable because I've been
trying to prove her innocence up till today," he said before
dressing down the entire criminal justice system. His claims
covered the gamut from the "flawed police investigation" to the
"bogus crime scenario cooked up by prosecutors" and the "false
conviction" of his wife by all three courts.
"The Supreme Court only rubber-stamped the rulings of the lower
courts and therefore is outrageous," He said. "I will continue to
do my utmost to support her and never give in."