In a courtroom showdown Jan. 22, a former prosecutor refused to apologize for the interrogation that led Toshikazu Sugaya to apparently falsely confess to the murder of a 4-year-old girl.

Instead of offering an apology to Sugaya, 63, who spent 17 years in prison for the 1990 murder in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, former prosecutor Daiji Morikawa said, "At the time, there were no elements that made us doubt you were the culprit."

Sugaya also asked Morikawa during the fifth session of his retrial at the Utsunomiya District Court: "I have been held for a long time for a crime I never committed. What do you think of that?"

Morikawa said he takes the matter "very seriously."