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?

KWW