On the 12th, the Fukuoka High Court in the second trial sentenced the head of the Kudo-kai, a designated dangerous organized crime group in Kitakyushu City, to death in the first trial after being charged with murder and other crimes in four incidents in which he attacked citizens. I will pass the verdict.
In the absence of direct evidence, it will be interesting to see whether the trial court's decision, which acknowledged that the top executives were involved as the masterminds, will be upheld.
Satoru Nomura (77), the head and president of the Kudo-kai designated dangerous organized crime group in Kitakyushu City, and Fumio Tagami (67), the number two and chairman, ran a fishing cooperative in Fukuoka Prefecture from 1998 to 2014. He is charged with murder and attempted systematic murder for his involvement in four incidents, including shooting and killing a former union leader and attacking three people, including a nurse and a dentist, with pistols and knives.
Three years ago, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that Nomura was involved as the mastermind
in all four cases due to Kudo-kai's strong organization, despite the lack of direct evidence that he had given instructions to the perpetrators. Tagami was sentenced to
life
imprisonment, and the defense appealed.
At the second trial,
Defendant Nomura maintained his innocence, saying there was no collusion in either case, just as he had in the first trial.Defendant Tagami, who had
completely denied the charges in the first trial, suddenly changed his mind and claimed that he had initiated the two incidents on his own. admitted his involvement.
The defense has advanced a new argument that each incident involved a different mastermind, including Defendant Tagami, and has argued that the first instance judgment contained a serious factual error.
On the other hand, the prosecutor's office argues that ``there is nothing unreasonable about the judgment of the first instance,'' and requests that the appeal be dismissed.
The judgment of the second instance will be handed down at the Fukuoka High Court from 10 a.m. on the 12th, and attention will be focused on whether the judgment of the first instance, which recognized Nomura as the mastermind, will be upheld.
The defendants' argument is
Nomura, the head of the Kudo-kai, and Taue, the number two, were arrested 10 years ago when the Fukuoka Prefectural Police launched a thorough crackdown called ``Operation Destruction,'' and charged with four incidents in which the Kudo-kai attacked citizens. I did.
▽In the first case, 26 years ago, the former head of a fishing cooperative was shot and killed at close range in the downtown area of Kokura Kita Ward, Kitakyushu City, and he was charged with murder.
Concessions such as port construction work are said to be behind the incident.
The second incident occurred 12 years ago, when a former Fukuoka Prefectural Police officer, who had been in charge of investigating organized crime for many years, was shot and seriously injured in the lower back and thighs.
The former police officer was one of the few police officers who could speak on an equal footing with defendant Nomura and other Kudokai executives.
The following year, a nurse at the cosmetic surgery clinic that Nomura attended was seriously injured when she was stabbed on a sidewalk in Fukuoka's Hakata Ward on her way home.
Prior to the incident, Nomura was said to have complained about the nurses' customer service and treatment.
▽The fourth incident was an attack on a dentist in 2014.
A dentist in Kokura Kita Ward, Kitakyushu City was stabbed in the chest and abdomen on his way to work, sustaining serious injuries.
The dentist was the grandson of the former head of the fishing cooperative who was killed in the first incident.
The three attacks, in which a former police officer, a nurse, and a dentist were attacked, are facing charges including attempted organized murder, which violates the Organized Crime Punishment Act.
At the first trial, both Nomura and Tagami denied any involvement and claimed complete innocence, but the verdict acknowledged that Nomura was involved as the mastermind in all four cases, and the defense appealed. Ta.
In the second trial, Nomura continued to maintain his innocence in all cases, while Tagami reversed his involvement in the four cases, saying that he had independently committed two of the cases in which a nurse and a dentist were attacked with knives. He admitted that he had done so, and argued that there was no intent to kill in either case, and that the charge was ``limited to injury.''
Expert: “If the decision is different from the first trial, we may have to reconsider countermeasures against organized crime groups.”
Regarding the Kudo-kai top judge's second trial verdict, Hisashi Sonoda, a professor emeritus at Konan University who specializes in criminal law, said, ``Will the first trial verdict be upheld and he be sentenced to the death penalty, or will it be denied and he be acquitted?The conclusion could be completely the opposite. That is the point of this trial."
Regarding the reason for this, he said, ``In the first instance judgment, there was no direct evidence of top management's involvement, and guilt was established by accumulating circumstantial evidence.'' The word inference was used quite often, and evidence was gathered from various angles to establish a single "The reasoning is based on a method that converges on one point, leading to the following. The issue at the appellate court is whether that is appropriate."
On the other hand, regarding the impact of the ruling on measures against organized crime, he said, ``The first instance judgment was extremely shocking and had a great impact on crimes committed by organized crime.If it is upheld in the second instance, it will lead to the current movement in society to eliminate organized crime.'' "This will lead to further developments, and if the decision is different from the first trial, I think it will lead to a situation where we will have to reconsider measures against organized crime."