Nicholas John Baker - Chiba District Court Trial

Chiba District Court Trial

The trial, which opened in February 2003, centred on whether Baker had been aware of the contents of the suitcase as well as an examination of the interrogation records and the confession he had signed. Baker claimed that the statement was mispresentation of his words and his lawyer, Shunji Miyake, argued that since there was no video or audio recording of the interrogations, and no defence lawyer was present, there was no way to check whether falsifications and mistranslations had taken place. Miyake also questioned what he claimed were the 'leading nature' of the questions asked by the interrogators. Baker maintained that the bag was Prunier's, that he had never had the key to the case, and that he had been tricked into carrying the bag by Prunier. Prunier had been arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium a month after Baker's arrest, and his co-accused in the Belgian case had also claimed that Prunier had duped them into carrying bags with drugs. The court ruled the evidence from the Belgian police was inadmissible, and it was not introduced during the trial.

In June 2003, the presiding judge, Kenji Kadoya, who had never found a defendant innocent in a career spanning more than a decade, found Baker guilty. He said Baker must have known the contents of the case because he had carried the key and had told customs officials and prosecutors that the case belonged to him. The judge also noted a signed confession, which implied Baker knew he was carrying drugs in the bag.

In the three-hour judgment, which was an almost word-for-word copy of the prosecution's argument, Kadoya said "This is a heinous crime. "This amount of drugs was a record. If they had entered our country, they would have harmed a large number of people." In June 2003, Baker was sentenced to 14 years in prison with forced labour and a ¥5,000,000 fine. Baker's lawyer said Baker had been punished more heavily because he had protested his innocence rather than confessing, which is the usual method by which prosecutors secure convictions.

In August 2003, James Prunier was interviewed on Central TV about the case. He admitted to being involved in drug smuggling, but denied that he had framed Baker, claiming that Baker was aware of the contents of the case. He subsequently committed suicide in August 2004, while on bail for the Belgian case.