Saki Sudo’s Trial: International Lawyer Weighs in on Murder Charges

On September 12, international lawyer Hiroshi Kiyohara appeared live remotely on TBS’s “Gogosuma ~ GOGO! smile ~” and commented on the first hearing of the trial of Saki Sudo, the ex-wife of Kosuke Nozaki, a wealthy Wakayama man known as “Don Juan of Kishu,” who is accused of murdering him in May 2018.

Sudo is accused of murdering Nozaki by forcing her to ingest a lethal dose of stimulants. Appearing in court wearing a black dress, the defendant denied the charges, stating, “I did not kill the president, nor did I force him to ingest stimulants. I am innocent.”

On the day of the trial, Sudo had some time alone with Nozaki, but there was almost no physical evidence to prove the crime. At the first hearing, the prosecution presented evidence that Sudo had searched for words such as “perfect crime drugs” and “elderly perfect crime,” as well as questions about inheritance tax.

Kiyohara explained, “The only way to prove guilt is to accumulate circumstantial evidence, so they presented various pieces of evidence to show that Saki killed the victim by giving him stimulants, and they showed all the search terms that were related to that.”

The prosecution also suspected that Sudo had contact with drug dealers, but Kiyohara pointed out, “Even if he had obtained stimulants, it would be quite difficult to get someone to ingest them, especially a lethal amount. Stimulants have a bitter taste, so they are easily noticeable. The question remains as to how someone could get such a large amount of stimulants into someone else’s mouth without being noticed. If the prosecution does not resolve this issue, or at least provide a clear answer, I think the defendant will be found not guilty,” predicting that it would be a tough road to a guilty verdict.