Courtroom Confrontation IV: Juror Sumiko Kobayashi

Chronology
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Episode 606-607 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}})
Information
Title:	Courtroom Confrontation IV: Juror Sumiko Kobayashi
Original airdate:	February 19, 2011 (Part 1) February 26, 2011 (Part 2)
Season:	20
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Eri Kisaki Kogoro Mouri
Case solved by:	Kogoro Mouri (via Conan)

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Eri Kisaki Reiko Kujo Ai Haibara Genta Kojima Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Midori Kuriyama Sumiko Kobayashi Ryujiro Uematsu

Plot

Part 1

A murder case court is in session in which Toshio Iwamatsu is suspected of having killed Tadashi Ishigaki after burglarizing his home office. While Iwamatsu admits the break-in, he vehemently denies the murder, even though a slip-up suggests that he might have been acquainted with Ishigaki. The case heralds yet another confrontation between Eri Kisaki, as Iwamatsu's attorney, and Reiko Kujo as the prosecutor. In addition, Sumiko Kobayashi has been selected as one of the jurors. Although nervous, she keeps the court's confidence and refuses to devulge any details to the pestering Detective Boys members Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta.

At first the trial appears to be inconclusive, as there is no pratical evidence of Iwamatsu being guilty of the murder.

Murder
	Victim: Tadashi Ishigaki Cause of death: Stabbing Suspects: Toshio Iwamatsu

However, on a crime scene photo Kobayashi-sensei notices that the picture in Ishigaki's office - a rather odd piece of art - is actually hanging upside down. Intrigued, Conan, Ran, and Kogoro investigate the scene, along with Kujo-sensei, and on the back of the painting they discover bloodstains and an IOU for a large sum of money made out to Iwamatsu, which would provide a motive for murder. But Conan notices two more peculiarities: the imprint of a vase on a nearby cabinet, but with the vase gone, and the strange nervousness of Ishigaki's housekeeper, Yukie Hara.

People

Toshio Iwamatsu
	35 years old Defendant

Tadashi Ishigaki
	Victim (stabbed) Moneylender

Yukie Hara
	66 years old Housekeeper

Toru Tsukano
	46 years old Victim's brother-in-law

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

The real culprit was Tsukano. His original plan was to steal the land deed that his late sister (Ishigaki's wife) had left for him, but which Ishigaki had taken after he had caught Tsukano embezzling money from his company. Ishigaki caught him while looking through the painting and threatened to press charges, so Tsukano ended up killing him. He found the deed on the back of the painting, which Ishigaki used as a secret hiding place for his most important documents.

Right after Ishigaki was killed, however, Iwamatsu came, so Tsukano hung the painting up again (failing to notice in his haste that it was now upside down) and hid behind the door. Iwamatsu recoiled in shock upon finding the corpse and accidentally knocked the vase onto the floor, and Tsukano took advantage of it by hiding the knife inside. When Iwamatsu had fled the scene and the housekeeper, who had heard Iwamatsu hitting the ground, rushed to the crime scene, Tsukano decided to pretend that he had just arrived, and checked the victim so that he would have an excuse for the blood on his hands.

After Mrs. Hara had left to call the police and the ambulance, Tsukano took the vase to the garbage collection site outside, hoping that it would get collected and disappear. But unfortunately it didn't, so he decided to take the knife and the gloves out of it and throw it in the park pool. But while removing the murder weapon from the vase, he left blooded fingerprints inside, which became the crucial evidence about him being the culprit.

See also

• Season 20