Four years ago, at a senior citizens' home in Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture, a former associate nurse was charged with murder and other charges for having a colleague drink a drink mixed with a sleeping pill and killed him in a traffic accident. The court revoked the judgment of the second trial that it was not an attempted murder for some victims, and the sentence of 24 years in prison for the first trial was finalized.
Defendant Aiko Hatano (74), a former associate nurse, had a colleague woman drink a drink mixed with a sleeping pill at a senior citizens' home in Insai City in 2017, causing a traffic accident and killing her. He was accused of murder and attempted murder for injuring another colleague and two people driving an oncoming vehicle.
While the defendant claimed that he had no intention of murder, the Chiba District Court in the first instance sentenced him to 24 years in prison, while the Tokyo High Court in the second instance determined that the other party to the traffic accident was not attempted murder. I was ordering the trial to be redone.
Koichi Kusano, the judge of the Second Small Court of the Supreme Court, said in a ruling, "It is quite possible that a victim who was given a sleeping pill will drive a car and cause a fatal accident if the car gets out of control." He pointed out that the judgment of the second trial was canceled and the sentence of 24 years in prison for the first trial was finalized.