Tsutomu Miyazaki - Trial and Execution

Trial and Execution

The trial began on March 30, 1990. Often talking nonsensically, he blamed his atrocities on "Rat Man", an alter ego who Miyazaki claimed forced him to kill; he spent a great deal of the trial drawing "Rat Man" in cartoon form. Believed to be insane, Miyazaki remained incarcerated throughout the 1990s while Saitama Prefecture put him through a battery of psychiatric evaluations. Teams of psychiatrists from Tokyo University diagnosed him as suffering from dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities). However, the Tokyo District Court judged him still aware of the gravity and consequences of his crimes and therefore accountable. He was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997. His death sentence was upheld by both the Tokyo High Court, on June 28, 2001, and the Supreme Court of Justice on January 17, 2006.

He described his serial murders as an "act of benevolence" and never apologized. Child killer Kaoru Kobayashi described himself as "the next Tsutomu Miyazaki or Mamoru Takuma." However, Miyazaki claimed that "I won't allow him to call himself 'the second Tsutomu Miyazaki' when he hasn't even undergone a psychiatric examination."

Kunio Hatoyama signed his death warrant and Miyazaki was hanged on June 17, 2008. Although the unusual swiftness of his execution as well as its timing soon after the Akihabara massacre prompted questions regarding the two incidents, the Ministry of Justice had no comment. Ryuzo Saki said, "His trial was long" and that he was "not willing to criticize Hatoyama."