Life sentence given for 1st time under lay judge system

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WAKAYAMA, Japan, Sept. 16 Kyodo -
The Wakayama District Court on Wednesday handed down a life sentence to a man
convicted of killing a woman in a murder-robbery case, the first life sentence
and the heaviest so far among court decisions in Japan's lay judge trials that
began last month.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence while the defense for Munehiro Akamatsu,
55, told the court that a sentence of 25 years in prison would be appropriate.
Akamatsu, who had pleaded guilty, broke into the home of neighbor Hiroko Onchi,
68, in Wakayama City, stealing valuables worth some 290,000 yen and strangling
her on May 7, according to the ruling.
Presiding Judge Hiroshi Narikawa said, ''There is no room for leniency as the
defendant broke in (the victim's home) after he threw away money for
pachinko.''
The judge also delivered messages from the citizen judges, who asked the
defendant to pay for the crime through praying for the victim.
In a reform of Japan's judicial system for criminal trials, the lay judge
system was introduced in May for heinous crimes such as murder, robbery, arson
and rape, aimed at involving ordinary citizens more closely in the criminal
trial process and at improving public trust in the judiciary.
Basically, three professional judges plus six lay judges decide by majority
vote whether a defendant is guilty or not, and hand down a sentence in a guilty
case.
==Kyodo