Lawyers seek hair reanalysis for woman on death row

WAKAYAMA, Japan, July 19 Kyodo -
Lawyers of a woman whose death sentence was finalized in May last year for a
1998 curry poisoning incident that killed four people in Wakayama have asked a
local court for a reanalysis of the woman's hair, saying earlier analyses that
found arsenic in her hair sample were erroneous, sources close to the matter
said Monday.
The defense lawyers for Masumi Hayashi, 48, filed the request for a fresh
analysis with the Wakayama District Court in March, the sources said.
According to the request, the lawyers are questioning the credibility of the
analyses of Hayashi's hair in which high concentrations of arsenic were
detected and which the Supreme Court admitted as evidence, saying that the
point on the hair sample where arsenic was detected was several millimeters
apart in two analyses.
Hayashi was convicted of killing the four and poisoning 63 others by lacing a
curry stew with arsenic during a community summer festival on July 25, 1998 in
the western Japanese city.
In April last year, the Supreme Court upheld lower court sentences, dismissing
her not-guilty plea, and rejected the following month a petition against its
ruling, thus finalizing her death sentence after a nearly decade-long trial.
The top court cited scientific analysis which showed that the arsenic in the
stew was identical to samples found at Hayashi's home as well as other
circumstantial evidence. There was no direct evidence to prove her involvement
and her motive was not established by the courts.
In July last year, Hayashi filed an appeal for a retrial, and the lawyers plan
to submit supplementary documents for the appeal by the end of September,
according to the sources.
==Kyodo