Iwao Hakamata was finally cleared of all charges last year — 56 years after being wrongly convicted of killing his boss and his boss’ family. Now, he’s set to get more than 200 million yen in compensation for spending decades on death row.
Back in 1968, when he was just 32, Hakamata was found guilty of murdering his boss, his boss’ wife, and their two teenage kids. Their home had been set on fire two years before, and he was blamed for it.
Now, at 89, Iwao’s getting 217 million yen — which works out to about $1.45 million, or roughly $25,892 for every year he sat behind bars before finally being proven innocent.
To most people, that amount doesn’t even come close to making up for what he lost. But in Japan, it’s actually a record payout for a wrongful conviction.
Many believe the payout does not reflect a lifetime lost
People online weren’t exactly impressed by the payout. One person on X said it’s simply “not enough.”
Another wrote: “That’s very little compensation… insignificant.”
His campaign for justice spanned decades
Hakamata never stopped insisting he was innocent. But his fight for a retrial was rejected in 1980. It wasn’t until 2008 that his sister, Hideko Hakamata, who is now 91, filed another appeal on his behalf.
New evidence finally led to a retrial
It took until 2014 for a judge to finally allow a retrial. Fresh evidence suggested that investigators may have faked some of the accusations against him.
He was released before being acquitted, but not as a free man
Even before he was found not guilty, Hakamata was allowed to leave prison because of his age and poor health. But he wasn’t really free — he was still technically sentenced to death, just serving his time at home because authorities didn’t see him as a flight risk.
A historic acquittal that drew a crowd
In September last year, hundreds of people showed up in Shizuoka, a coastal city about an hour from Tokyo by train, to witness his acquittal. The judge officially ruled him innocent, and the crowd erupted in celebration.
Hakamata, sadly, wasn’t there. His health had deteriorated so much that he was exempted from attending the court session.
DNA evidence contradicted the prosecution’s claims
One of the biggest holes in the case against Hakamata was the blood-stained clothes investigators said he wore during the crime. They claimed he had hidden them in a tank of fermented soybean paste.
But DNA tests showed the blood on the clothes didn’t even match Hakamata’s.
To make matters worse, the trousers prosecutors presented as evidence were too small for him. When he tried them on, they didn’t even fit.
Prosecutors still sought the death penalty despite new evidence
Even with all the new evidence proving his innocence, prosecutors still pushed for the death penalty as recently as May last year. That decision left many questioning whether Japan’s justice system needed serious reform.
On September 26, 2024, he was finally cleared of all charges
“The court finds the defendant innocent,” Judge Koshi Kunii announced.
No amount of money can give back the years Iwao spent behind bars. But at least, after all this time, the truth finally won.
