The death penalty was handed down to Satoshi Uematsu on March 16 for killing 19 residents at a facility for the intellectually disabled in Sagamihara , and later his lawyer dropped the appeal and the death penalty was finalized. “I was wrong to continue the trial, but there was a conflict in my heart,” Uematsu said.
It also pointed out that an investigator used the fact Nishiyama, who has a mild intellectual disability, had developed romantic feelings toward him to coerce a confession that matched circumstantial evidence.
It was found that more than half of the residents at this facility did not have daily temperature readings. Chiba Prefecture states, “If we measure everyone, we may have been able to grasp the situation a little earlier.”
The sentence is set to become final at midnight (3 p.m. GMT) as Monday is the deadline for filing an appeal. It is rare for a capital punishment sentence to be finalized after only the first trial.
Uematsu’s lawyer had appealed the ruling to the Tokyo High Court on March 27, but according to the court, Uematsu withdrew the appeal on March 30.
Health officials in the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, near Tokyo, reported a total of 86 confirmed cases of the virus over the weekend in a mass infection at a facility for people with disabilities.
Eight family members of its infected staff were also confirmed Sunday to have contracted the virus, the prefectural government said. At the facility, Hokuso Ikusei-en, in the town of Tonosho, people with disabilities engage in craftwork, horticulture and other activities.
The facility has 63 staff and 70 residents in their 20s to 80s, and 37 people had symptoms of fever, so the prefecture was conducting a virus test.
The defense team acting on behalf of a former care home employee, Satoshi Uematsu (30), who was sentenced to death for killing 19 disabled people and injuring 24 others at a care home in Sagamihara City, applied to appeal the sentence on Wednesday 25th March.
Volunteers for the Paralympic Games said the postponement will provide extra time for preparing barrier-free access to venues and transportation.
Barrier Free Japan