Shigeru Yagi, a 55-year-old moneylender failed to escape from death...

Shigeru Yagi, a 55-year-old moneylender failed to escape from death row when the Tokyo High Court upheld a ruling ordering that he be sentenced to death for murdering two men in a bid to collect hefty insurance payouts.
Yagi was convicted in the Saitama District Court in 2002 of conspiring with a 37-year-old woman and other people to murder victims using poisonous aconite and large doses of cold medicine. Yagi's lawyers claimed that the charges against him were false and argued against the testimony of the woman who said he was guilty.
They said evidence proving the cause of death of the two men was also insufficient. Prosecutors countered that during the appeal, the man was merely repeating claims he brought forward in the district court ruling, and asked the high court to scrap the appeal. According to the district court ruling, Yagi conspired with the woman, who received life imprisonment for her part in the crime, and other people to kill a 45-year-old worker by poisoning him with an aconite-laced bun in 1995 to collect about 300 million yen in insurance benefits.
He was also convicted of murdering a 61-year-old former parlour worker by giving him large amounts of cold medicine and strong alcoholic drinks between 1998 and 1999.