Defense lawyers for Masumi Hayashi, who is on death row over the 1998 fatal curry-poisoning case, submitted Friday an appeal prospectus to the Osaka High Court claiming her innocence and arguing that conclusions drawn by a lower court were wrong.
The Wakayama District Court sentenced Hayashi, 42, to death in December for killing four people by lacing curry with arsenic at a community summer festival in Wakayama, despite a lack of direct evidence linking her to the murders. The appeal trial is expected to begin as early as next spring.
Hayashi's lawyers argued in the statement that the lower court was wrong to conclude the arsenic in the curry matched arsenic found at Hayashi's home, and also said that allowing use of video footage of Hayashi's interview with a TV station as evidence was illegal.
Four people, including two children, were killed and 63 others sickened after eating the tainted curry on July 25, 1998. Hayashi was among those involved in its preparation.
The lawyers also said the court was wrong to conclude that there was a high probability that the arsenic was added to the curry when Hayashi was minding the cooking pot.