He repeated his earlier denials, but fabric traces on his suit in addition to witness testimony were enough to convince the court that he had groped under the victim's skirt. In handing down the sentence, Kamisaka noted that "The court cannot anticipate that the accused will be rehabilitated" on his own recognizance. Uekusa vowed to appeal, in a statement saying "the truth will always prevail." On April 16, 2008, The Tokyo High Court upheld a four-month prison term for Uekusa. On June 25, 2009, The Supreme Court turned down Uekusa's final appeal. In an interview with journalist Benjamin Fulford on June 19, 2008, he stated that he had been arrested in the national policy investigation after criticizing an economic policy by Junichiro Koizumi and Heizō Takenaka on a television program.