Tokyo High Court Appeal
The High Court appeal began March 2004. The defence argued that poor translation during police interrogations and during the district court trial had affected the outcome of the trial and submitted expert testimony about translation errors. They also suggested that the investigation was improperly conducted, that there were inconsistencies in official reports, and that important evidence, such as the Belgian information, had been ignored at the original trial.
On October 27, 2005, the presiding judge upheld the guilty verdict, rejecting defence suggestions. The judge questioned why Baker had travelled to Japan after Prunier had told him "If anything goes wrong on the way to Japan, your family will be killed." He also noted that the drugs were very skillfully hidden, and that more than half of the contents of the suitcase belonged to Baker, suggesting that it belonged to him. The judge also commented that "the defendant has not reflected sincerely on his acts." However, he reduced the sentence from 14 years to 11 years noting that Baker did not seem to be the mastermind, and his family had been worried about him. Baker's fine was also reduced from ¥5,000,000 (approximately £24,392) to ¥3,000,000 (approximately £14,635). This had to be paid within four weeks or he would have to serve an extra 150 days of hard labour.
In November 2005, Baker decided not to appeal to Japan's Supreme Court and was transferred to Fuchu Prison to begin serving his sentence. Having served one third of his sentence, Nick Baker was transferred back to England in the Spring of 2008 to serve the remainder of his sentence. After spending six-months at London's Wandsworth prison, Baker was released on licence in October, 2008.
Read more about this topic: Nicholas John Baker
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