The family of an executed death row inmate has decided to request a retrial, possibly posing another challenge to a DNA-based conviction, his lawyers have said.
Michitoshi Kuma was hanged at the Fukuoka detention house in October at the age of 70. He was found guilty of abducting two elementary school girls in 1992 in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture, and strangling them in his car.
Kuma, who was arrested in 1994, denied any involvement to police and pleaded not guilty at his trial. But the Supreme Court turned down his appeal in September 2006, upholding a lower court decision that sentenced him to death.