The Supreme Court’s Second Petty Bench (Judge Akira Ojima, presiding) has made a decision to dismiss the appeal of former doctor Yamamoto Naoki (47), who was charged with murder for killing his father in 2011. The decision was made on the 29th. The defendant’s claim of innocence was rejected, and the first and second trial rulings that sentenced him to 13 years in prison will now be finalized. The defendant is also charged with soliciting the murder of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient, and the trial is still ongoing at the Osaka High Court.

According to the verdict, the defendant conspired with a doctor he knew, Yuichi Okubo (46) – who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the same crime and is currently appealing – and others to take his father, Yasushi (then 77), from a hospital in Nagano Prefecture in March 2011 and kill him in some way.

The defense argued that Okubo was innocent, arguing that he committed the crime alone after Yamamoto abandoned the plan to kill the victim.

The Kyoto District Court’s ruling in February 2011, which was heard as a lay judge trial, pointed out that the death notification had been submitted efficiently and that it did not appear that an unexpected incident had occurred. “The murder plan was worked out and executed based on the doctor’s knowledge and experience, and its sophistication and viciousness were unparalleled,” it said.