Miyuki Ueta
Miyuki Ueta was a Japanese murderer and suspected serial killer, convicted of two murders in the between May 2004 and October 2009.
Case summary
On 2 November 2009, Ueta, a snack hostess, was arrested for defrauding a woman of 1.26 million yen. After some further investigations, authorities noticed that all of the men she dated died under suspicious circumstances. Soon after, the deaths were carefully examined.In January 2010, Ueta was arrested for robbery and murder of two of her dates.
Suspicious deaths
; Akira Seo; Shinichi Furuta
; Houitsu Sakai
; Kazumi Yabe
; Hideki Maruyama
; Kazumi Taguchi
Arrest
In this case, Miyuki Ueta was arrested on 2 November 2009, for fraud, with the Tottori Prefectural Police using her real name and distributing the press release to news agencies. However, she remained anonymous for five days after the suspicious deaths were discovered. Lay judges are considered for murder cases, so that the public is prejudiced against the defendant. However, most of the weekly magazines published the suspect's real name and photographs of her likeness, including sensational headlines reporting her upbringing and life situation. Shukan Shincho explained the reason for this as "high social interest, and the right to freedom of information", and Shukan Bunshun for the "seriousness" of the crimes.According to media researcher Keiichi Katsura, the series of reports of Ueta's real name did not slow even after police decided to point out that her guilt was not even established yet.
After Ueta was arrested for robbery and murder on 28 January 2010, news agencies and major newspapers switched to reporting her real name officially.
Trial
Since there was no direct evidence in the witness testimony, the prosecutors resorted to using circumstantial evidence.On 4 December 2012, Takashi Noguchi, the presiding judge, sentenced Miyuki Ueta to death. That was his second death sentenced handed against a female criminal, the first being Kanae Kijima. Both defendants appealed their sentences on the same day as their verdicts.
On 20 March 2014, the Matsue Branch of the Hiroshima High Court, headed by Judge Ihei Tsukamoto, dismissed the appeal in favor of the death penalty. Ueta appealed to the Supreme Court on the same day.
Presiding Judge Hiroshi Koike set the second trial to open on 29 June 2017.
On that date, the Supreme Court trial's opening session began. The prosecution said that she was definitely guilty of the two murders, as it was impossible for the accused to just lend a shoulder to a man drugged on sleeping pills and take him to his supposed "suicide location", without being directly responsible for it. As such, they asked for the appeal to be dismissed, as the accused "committed the murders and was fully responsible".
On 5 July Koiki set the second trial for 27 July.
On said date, the second Supreme Court trial, again headed by Hiroshi Koike, rejected Ueta's appeal, thus confirming her death sentence.
Ueta appealed the decision, alleging that the Supreme Court was prejudiced against her, but on 23 August that appeal was also rejected, confirming the death sentence for the final time. Miyuki Ueta is the 16th post-war and second female prisoner to be given such a sentence, preceded only by the aforementioned Kanae Kijima.