A Japanese high court has ordered a fresh trial for a man who was convicted of killing a junior high school girl 38 years ago and subsequently served his term.

The Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court handed down the ruling on Wednesday in response to a request made in 2022 by Maekawa Shoshi, who is 59 years old.

Maekawa was charged with killing the girl at her home in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast in 1986. He was acquitted at the initial trial, but a higher court overturned the ruling and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The guilty ruling stood after Maekawa made an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court.

Maekawa has consistently maintained his innocence. He sought a retrial once before, lodging the request in 2004 after completing his prison term.
A court granted the request in 2011 but prosecutors successfully appealed the ruling. Maekawa made a special appeal to the Supreme Court, which was dismissed.

At issue has been the credibility of accounts by witnesses who claim they saw Maekawa wearing blood-stained clothing on the night of the incident.

In the ruling on Wednesday, Presiding Judge Yamada Koji said the accounts were not credible, and that there are lingering questions about whether investigators acted appropriately when obtaining the accounts.