Top prosecutor gives apology to Sugaya

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. (Kyodo) A top Tochigi Prefecture prosecutor apologized Monday to Toshikazu Sugaya, who had been jailed for about 17 years over the 1990 murder of a 4-year-old girl before a fresh DNA test effectively proved his innocence.

Who's sorry now?: Hideo Makuta, top prosecutor of the Utsunomiya District Public Prosecutor's Office, bows Monday to Toshikazu Sugaya (left) and one of his attorneys, Hiroshi Sato. KYODO PHOTO

"I apologize from the bottom of my heart as a representative of the prosecutors," chief prosecutor Hideo Makuta told Sugaya, 62, according to the Utsunomiya District Public Prosecutor's Office.

"I deeply regret the pain that has been caused for the innocent Mr. Sugaya by wrongfully indicting him and making him serve in prison for such a long time," Makuta said.

According to Sugaya's lawyers, who accompanied him to the prosecutor's office, he replied: "No one else should go through the same agony that I faced."

After the meeting, Sugaya told reporters, "I felt like I should forgive him after seeing him in person."

Also on Monday, Utsunomiya prosecutors decided to hand over to Sugaya's lawyers audiotapes and written records of interrogations of their client in connection with the unsolved murders of two other young girls in the area.

The lawyers requested the disclosure in their effort to clarify the process that led to Sugaya making false confessions in the 1990 murder known as the Ashikaga case.

The lawyers said they agreed with the prosecutors not to publicize the tapes and documents.

Sugaya, who was arrested in December 1991, claimed his innocence in court. He was sentenced to life in prison mainly based on DNA analysis.

He was released in June after a fresh DNA test employing a more accurate method was conducted to show that his DNA type did not match that of bodily fluid found on the victim's underwear.

Shoichiro Ishikawa, a top Tochigi Prefectural Police investigator, apologized directly to Sugaya shortly after he was released from prison.

A retrial for Sugaya is scheduled to open Oct. 21.