On July 18, 2019, 36 people died and 32 were injured in the Fushimi Ward of Kyoto, Japan, in the deadliest event of its kind in the country since 2001. The man responsible, Shinji Aoba, was convicted of murder, attempted murder and further offenses by the Kyoto District Court on January 25, 2024 and sentenced to death. He was 45 years old on the day of the verdict.
The trial turned less on what he had done than on his state of mind. He admitted the acts, but his lawyers entered a plea of not guilty on the ground of mental illness. The court rejected that defense. In January 2025 Aoba withdrew the appeal his lawyers had lodged, and the death sentence became final. A later challenge to the withdrawal by his lawyers failed in March 2026.
Thirty-six people died in Kyoto on that day and thirty-two others were injured. The court counted each of the 36 deaths as a murder, and the dead and their families are not named. Aoba was arrested in May 2020. Prosecutors brought five counts against him, including murder, attempted murder and a further offense. The court found that he had planned what he did in advance.
The trial opened at the Kyoto District Court in September 2023. Aoba admitted committing the acts. His lawyers nevertheless entered a plea of not guilty. They argued that a mental disorder left him unable to tell right from wrong and unable to stop himself from committing the crime, so that he could not be held criminally responsible. They asked in the alternative for a lesser sentence.
Prosecutors argued that he was fully responsible, and on December 7, 2023 they asked for the death penalty. The motive put before the court was a single clause: Aoba wanted to be a novelist and sought revenge because he believed the company that ran a contest had stolen novels he had submitted to it. The court found no evidence of plagiarism, and the company has denied it.
The Kyoto District Court gave its judgment on January 25, 2024. It found Aoba guilty of murder and other crimes. On criminal responsibility the court ruled that he was "neither insane nor suffering diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime", and found him "mentally capable to face punishment for the crimes." It acknowledged that he had a delusional disorder but held that the disorder had little effect on his conduct.
On sentence the court said that, even after weighing the factors in his favour, including his remorse, there was no reason to avoid the death penalty. Aoba was sentenced to death.
Aoba's defense appealed to the Osaka High Court in February 2024, arguing that he had a mental disorder. On Monday, January 27, 2025, Aoba himself withdrew the appeal. The High Court announced on January 28 that the death sentence had become final. Aoba wanted the trial to end quickly and believed an appeal would not change the sentence.
His lawyers had urged him not to withdraw. In early February 2025 they asked the Osaka High Court to treat the withdrawal as void. Japanese law allows a withdrawal to be nullified if the defendant could not make an informed decision because of the emotional and psychological effect of a death sentence. The lawyers argued that a death sentence "should not be made final on impulse."
On March 17, 2026 the Osaka High Court found that the withdrawal "is valid". The presiding judge said that Aoba "clearly understood the meaning of his decision", and the death sentence of January 25, 2024 stands. The ruling was open to a further challenge by his lawyers. As of March 2026 he remained under sentence of death in Japan.
As of December 2023, 107 people in Japan were under sentence of death. A sentence becomes final when the ordinary appeal routes are used or closed, and a defendant's own withdrawal of an appeal is one way that happens. The case therefore put one question to the Osaka High Court: whether a withdrawal made against the advice of his lawyers could stand when the defense said the sentence itself had impaired his judgment. The court held that it could. A death sentence in Japan may not be carried out for several years after it becomes final, and no execution of Aoba has been reported.
Two points were contested at trial. The first was criminal responsibility: the defense said a mental disorder removed his capacity to know right from wrong, and the court found him neither insane nor of diminished capacity. The second was his claim that the company had taken his work, for which the court found no evidence. After sentence, the question was whether his withdrawal of the appeal was a free decision, and the Osaka High Court held on March 17, 2026 that it was.
July 18, 2019: 36 people killed and 32 injured in Kyoto.
May 2020: Aoba arrested.
September 2023: Trial opens at the Kyoto District Court.
December 7, 2023: Prosecutors ask for the death penalty.
January 25, 2024: Convicted of murder (36 victims), attempted murder and further offenses; sentenced to death.
February 2024: Defense appeals to the Osaka High Court.
January 27, 2025: Aoba withdraws the appeal; the death sentence becomes final.
February 2025: Defense asks the Osaka High Court to treat the withdrawal as void.
March 17, 2026: Osaka High Court holds that the withdrawal "is valid".