In his first trial, 52-year-old Takemitsu Mori was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Osaka District Court for murdering his former daughter-in-law and her 1-year-old son in an apartment in Hirano Ward, Osaka, and then setting the apartment afire in April 2002. In the appellate trial, the Osaka High Court sentenced him to death, despite the lack of material evidence directly linking the man to the crimes.
On April 27, the Supreme Court's No. 3 Petite Bench, in a 4-1 decision, quashed both lower court sentences and remanded the case to the Osaka District Court. It said it is difficult to find the man guilty on the basis of purely circumstantial evidence.
It is rare for the Supreme Court to cite mistaken recognition of facts and quash a death sentence handed down by a high court. The ruling is a warning to police investigators and public prosecutors who try to build cases solely on circumstantial evidence.