While Speer escaped the hangman’s noose, Rudolph Hess played the psychotic amnesiac. Whether he was truly suffering from a variety of psychosis or not, however, he convinced the Tribunal that he was mentally unfit. This defense was successfully used by Shumei Okawa during his trial in Tokyo and was considered as unfit by Major Kelly. Instead of spending time in prison like Hess; Okawa was sent to a psychiatric hospital for less than two years and was released.
While the proceedings of the Nuremberg trials were based on the accepted standards of evidence and judicial procedures, the trial of General Yamashita was in all terms a miscarriage of military justice. The Tokyo trials excluded much of the evidentiary process; relying on hearsay
While the proceedings of the Nuremberg trials were based on the accepted standards of evidence and judicial procedures, the trial of General Yamashita was in all terms a miscarriage of military justice. The Tokyo trials excluded much of the evidentiary process; relying on hearsay