Had legal professionals over the past two decades followed the basic principles of law and given accused killer Toshikazu Sugaya the benefit of the doubt, he may not have suffered the miscarriage of justice that put him behind bars for more than 17 years, experts say.
The Utsunomiya District Court finally exonerated Sugaya in a retrial ruling Friday.
Toshikuni Murai, a law professor at Ryukoku University, said judges, prosecutors and even Sugaya's first defense lawyer failed to listen to the defendant.