Michael Cash wrote:
> On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 10:55:15 -0400, Kevin Wayne Williams
> <kww.nihongo@verizon.nut> brought down from the Mount tablets
> inscribed:
> 
> 
>>Michael Cash wrote:
>>
>>
>>>One of the things about murder cases in Japan which struck me as odd
>>>was how a murdered corpse going undiscovered affects the statute of
>>>limitations on prosecuting the murderer. 
>>>
>>>You ain't dead, you see, until a doctor says you're dead. And it
>>>doesn't matter if he says it 30 seconds after you give up the ghost or
>>>30 years after the last bit of flesh has rotted off your skeleton. 
>>>
>>>The statute of limitations is 15 years after the murder. You're not
>>>murdered until you're dead. And you're not dead until you're examined.
>>>And you're not examined until you're found. There have been people
>>>prosecuted for and convicted of murder in Japan who, because they
>>>didn't know this, thought they had long ago safely beaten the rap.
>>
>>So your best bet is to dump the victim's body in a doctor's waiting room
>>in order to start the statute of limitations clock ticking?
> 
> 
> Sounds logical to me.
> 
> I first became aware of this while reading a book written by a
> Japanese coroner. The incident he used to relate the info was (if I
> remember correctly) one of a set of skeletal remains found in a remote
> mountainous area. The date of death on the death certificate was the
> date of discovery/examination.
> 
> Things like this can also complicate things like settling up estates
> and life insurance, even without there being any foul play involved.
> 
> Dr. Masahiko Ueno, former Tokyo head coroner, told about working a big
> hotel fire several years ago. I forget the name of the hotel at the
> moment. Anyway, all the members of a particular family who were
> staying there died of smoke inhalation. On their death certificates,
> he recorded the same time of death for each of them. He soon found
> himself hosting delegations of the bereaved who pushed for him to
> shift the time. The husband's family wanted his time to be later than
> the wife's time, and vice versa. This, of course, would be the
> deciding factor in which set of relatives would inherit the estate of
> the now-gone bunch who had expired in the tragedy.
> 
What about cases where no body is ever found, such as the World Trade 
Center, but it's a good bet the person is dead?

John W.