The Tokyo High Court decided June 23 to open a retrial of Toshikazu Sugaya in connection with the 1990 murder of a 4-year-old girl in light of fresh DNA evidence that effectively proves him not guilty.

The retrial will be held at the Utsunomiya District Court, which will acquit Sugaya, 62, by the year's end as prosecutors are unlikely to argue he should be found guilty.

Sugaya, who served 17 years in prison in connection with the murder in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, was released from prison in early June on the strength of the fresh DNA evidence.

The focus of the retrial will be on whether it can be clarified how he was wrongfully convicted when investigative authorities depended on less-accurate DNA tests and he was forced to make false confessions during interrogations.