Bantamweight Boxer Iwao Hakamada Freed From Death Row in Japan after 45 Years After DNA Evidence Proves Him Innocent
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Tokyo, Japan (March 31st, 2013)– Japanese bantamweight boxer Iwao Hakamada, proven innocent by DNA evidence, has been released from death row in Japan after serving 45 years for four murders he did not commit. Hakamada is the longest serving death row inmate ever to be proven innocent and released.
Hakamada compiled a professional record of 16 wins, 11 losses and two draws, with one knockout, between 1959 and 1961. Between February and December of 1960, Hakamada was 10-1-1. He was convicted and sentenced in 1968, even though the pants belonging to the murderer did not fit him. Hakamada was subjected to 240 hours of questioning over 20 days to get him to confess, and forced to urinate in the confession room.
Hakamada recanted his confession as soon as it was made, and spent his life in solitary confinement, never knowing when he arose each morning if it would be his last. His older sister never gave up the quest to prove him innocent. A legal defense team recently obtained permission to have the clothing used as evidence found at the scene of the crime to be DNA tested. Recent testing showed blood on the pants and clothing of the alleged perpetrator of the crime did not fit or match the victims or Hakamada.
In announcing the decision to free Hakamada, presiding judge,Hiroaki Murayama, said “The possibility of his innocence has become clear to a respectable degree, and it is unbearably unjust to prolong the defendant’s detention any further.”
Sadly, Hakamada shows signs of psychological issues due to his long incarceration, and perhaps dementia. It is not known if his professional boxing career in Japan contributed to his present state, give the long passage of time since he last fought.
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