Lawyers for a male nurse accused of murdering a patient and attempting to kill four others with intravenous doses of a muscle relaxant reiterated his innocence Monday as they began their closing arguments in the trial.
They charged that prosecutors fabricated their case against Daisuke Mori, 32, a former nurse at Hokuryo Clinic in Sendai, and did not conduct a sufficient investigation to back up their allegations.
The defense plans to spend another session Tuesday at the Sendai District Court to finish reading out a 330-page final argument. In the previous session in November, prosecutors demanded life in prison for Mori, who is pleading not guilty.
According to the indictment, Mori mixed a muscle relaxant into the intravenous bags for five of his patients from February to November 2000, killing Yukiko Shimoyama, 89, and attempting to murder the four others.
Mori's lawyers told the court Monday that the condition of the five patients changed for the worse due to other reasons, such as a side effect from a drug, rather than the muscle relaxant as claimed by the prosecutors.
They also raised questions about the prosecutors' analysis of evidence and their method of investigation.