Closing arguments will be held in the trial of Yoel Zev ben Mirel Risa Chava 12:30 tonight (EST) which is tomorrow, Thursday, May 12th, 1:30 PM Tokyo time. At the closing arguments, the three defense lawyers, Mr. Miyake, Mr. Nakamura, and Mr. Takano will argue the main points in favor of the defendant verbally before the judges. Each of the three attorneys is responsible to address a different aspect of the defense effort and will present the proofs supporting his position to the court. Mr. Miyake is handling the aspect of the boys’ sheltered upbringing which resulted in their not even knowing of the existence of narcotics to the extent that they were not aware that the word “Sam” in Hebrew connotes anything other than poison, as Rabbi Niederman and the principal of the boys’ Yeshiva testified in previous hearings. Mr. Nakamura will go through Yoel Zev’s personal testimony of the events as they occurred step by step, and Mr. Takano will address both the polygraph issue and the “blind mule” issue as per former DEA Michael Levine’s testimony. 

Some of the points that will be included in the closing arguments are: 

• The absolute trust that the boys had in the individual who sent them, a well known and respected personality within their circle, to the point that it was actually considered an honor to do a service for him.
• The fact that the only languages the boys are familiar with are Yiddish and Lashon Hakodesh, but not Modern Hebrew.  Thus, even when confronted with the shocking discovery that there were white pills rather than antiques in their suitcases, they boys were disbelieving when told that they were “sam”, which to their mind simply meant poison. 
• The actions of the three boys in Narita International Airport clearly indicated that they were blind mules (unwitting carriers) vs. witting mules (knowing carriers).  The fact that they were willing to do the job for only $1,000.00 clearly proves that they did not know they would be carrying drugs.  Further, they used their true names and passports, went on the same line at customs, and wholeheartedly agreed to undergo polygraph testing.  Yoel Zev even tried to open the false bottom to show the inspector that he had antiques concealed within!
• All three boys passed the polygraph test with the definite result of “no knowledge”.  The expert testimonies of Dr. Yamamura, Japanes polygraph expert, Dr. Beaber, American polygraph expert, and Professor Ben-Shachar, world – renowned Israeli polygraph scientifically confirmed that they had absolutely no knowledge of what was in their luggage.

The verdict date for Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel is set for Monday, May 16^th, 1:30 Tokyo time, which will be 12:30 AM Sunday night NYC time. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: CLICK HERE TO BE MEKAYEM PIDYON SHIVUYIM IN ASSISTING THE BOCHRIM STILL IN JAPAN PRISON!!

The tzibur is requested to continue being Mispallel for Yoel Zev ben Mirel Reesa Chava and Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)