Life sentence in J-jail for being an FG!

[Taro Toporific]

[ramchop]

That's unbeliveably fucked! Life imprisonment for overstaying?

Does he get extra punishment for the additional overstaying he'll be doing while in prison?

[Steve Bildermann]

Actually here's what must have happened. He was NOT sentenced for overstaying.

If the district court dismissed the case the prosecutors still have the right to appeal to the high court. This is called a Koso (appeal)

The high court has then tried him and he's been found guilty and sentence to life *for the murder* not for overstaying.

He can now appeal against that verdict to the Supreme Court - which probably will hear his case because he originally was dismissed in the lower court.

Generally If you lose two out two (lower court and high court) the Supreme Court will almost never hear the case unless it involves a capital crime.

[Marvin Feltcher]

Actually, the story is actually a little wrong, but that doesn't stop the treatment of Mainali from being a travesty.
He was arrested on the grounds that he was a client of the woman killed (she was turning tricks after hours in her posh job at NTT) in the days before she died. He was one of two FGs to have partaken of her services, but the other had a pliable alibi and Mainali didn't (I think he said he was at home asleep at the time of the killing).
He was, AMAZINGLY, acquited in the Tokyo District Court. He should have been allowed to walk free. Instead, prosecutors apppealed. They then forced him to stay in Japan by claiming he had overstayed his visa. He has not been tried for that offence. He is still on remand and faces, I think, up to three years imprisonment when he is found guilty (as he invariably will be). Of course, by that time, the Tokyo High Court will have heard the appeal against his acquittal, though what sort of decision it makes is anybody's guess.
Having gone so far to keep him imprisoned, prosecutors are bound to appeal a "not guilty" verdict, so the whole process starts over again. It really is a disgrace worthy of more attention than it gets.
Incidently, we at the paper are forbidden from mentioning any details of the victim, who it must be said invited some trouble by moonlighting as a prostitute. We are not even allowed to mention she was a prostitute (one editor actually told me the reason why I couldn't say she was a prostitute was because prostitution is illegal in Japan).
I also have to mention that former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was convicted for graft during the Lockheed scandal by the Tokyo District Court, the Tokyo High Court and the Supreme Court (using up all rights of appeal), yet did not serve a single day behind bars for the crime. That was despite being an habitual offender, having served a prison term for bribery in the late '40s.
My heart rarely goes out to any lawbreaker, but it does to Mainali who should be allowed to get on with his life in his homeland.

[Steve Bildermann]

Marvin: You've lost me. I'm trying to reconcile what you've written with what I know about the judicial procedure.

Your right about it being pretty amazing he was acquitted in the court of first instance (98% conviction)

Now we come to this 'life sentence' business - that must have been from the High Court *after* the prosecutors appealed. It can't still be in procedure. If so where does this 'life sentence' come from?

I also can see where the prosecutors had to find a way to hold him in Japan after his first acquittal - no doubt he would have split before the appeal was finished. So they held him on the overstay charge.

Do I understand this the way you are explaining it?

[Marvin Feltcher]

Sorry Steve,
I was a bit vague....bloody Japan.
Mainali was acquitted for the murder at the Tokyo District Court. Prosecutors appealed. His high court trial for the woman's murder hasn't started. His lawyers quit because he couldn't pay them.
After being found not guilty, he was nabbed for violating immigration laws (overstaying). Usually, offenders are tried and deported (nearly all plead guilty).
Mainali still hasn't been tried for this about three years after being arrested.
Even those found guilty of the same charge face a maximum term of only three years. He should have been either let go after his acquittal, or convicted and deported as is usually the case (I don't think prosecutors were keen on paying for his trip home).
My understanding is that he is being treated as a special case where he can be detained on the overstaying conviction until his murder trial is complete.
Perhaps the life sentence the story refers to means he faces the possibility of a life sentence (through a higher court conviction) simply because he overstayed (giving prosecutors an excuse to keep him in the country when he could have left). He is definitely not serving a life sentence at the moment.

[Steve Bildermann]

Ok - *Now it makes better reading. Perhaps you could have made some reference to schoolgirls panties or housewives part time jobs to make it more comprehensible. A nice alliteration for the title would have helped too.

So If I understand you he's being held in limbo (three years) ostensibly on a Visa overstay but actually being held to prevent him hi-tailing it until the High Court comes to a decision. Seems reasonable.

Too bad about his lawyers quitting but he should more than qualify for the Fujyo Kyokai (legal aid) to take up his case - of course they are very choosy who they take and the case has to be 100% a sure fire win. However he does have a win in the lower court going for him.

The point here is three years in the cooler and the appeal hasn't started yet. Any half assed lawyer should have served up a Habeas Corpus and got him out on bail (no passport and daily checkins)

That's tough !!

Now where on earth this 'serving a life sentence' bullshit came from I don't know. One things for sure If he's got a win in the lower court if it does go against him in the high court he's NOT getting a life sentence. Little comfort that it is.

[Big Booger]

The second they let me out of that fucking court, I would be swimming to China...

that is ballzy.
BB