The Supreme Court has rejected a request to sentence to death a man convicted of the murder of a woman in 2007.
Yoshimoto Hori, with accomplices Tsukasa Kanda and Yuichiro Hondo, was found guilty of the murder of 31-year-old Rie Isogai on Aug 24, 2007, in Aichi Prefecture. The men were convicted of abducting Isogai with the intention of robbing and murdering her to prevent her from testifying.
Isogai's mother drew up a petition for the death penalty that was signed by 100,000 citizens within 10 days, NTV reported. She presented the petition with some 150,000 names to the District Public Prosecutor's Office of Nagoya 2007. The number had increased to 318,000 by December 2008.
In 2008, Kanda and Hori were sentenced to death. Kawagishi received a life prison term in return for having turned himself in and providing evidence that aided the police investigation. In 2011, Hori's death sentence was commuted to life in prison, following an appeal, NTV reported.
The Supreme Court rejected a request by the prosecution to have the death sentence reinstated, instead ordering Hori to serve a life sentence.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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CrazyJoe
All three should be hanged.
CrazyJoe
Opinions are neither right nor wrong.
Bartholomew Harte
Why not just let them all go free!-perhaps they could visit the wife and profusely bow & apologize! True Justice gets kicked to the curb once again,sad to say!
Lowly
so, back on topic,
they were arrested for robbing and killing her in order to prevent her from testifying about what
about half of the story is missing.
FightingViking
@Kevin Goody
I certainly DO know the difference between "free speech" and dirty, sluttish language...
recherche88
Lowly, presumably about the kidnap and robbery.
Geoff Gillespie
What you and your bloodthirsty brethren advocate isn't justice but rather revenge, which is a very different thing.
lucabrasi
Good. The death penalty has no place in a modern, functional society. Well done the Supreme Court!
Jerome_from_Utah
In TQM (native to Japan), defective units are removed from the line without remorse. Here, we have three truly defective critters that really need culling. Sadly, we have the same problem in some jurisdictions in the USA.
nec123a
Great to see that the Japanese Supreme Court is finally beginning to move to a more civilized and human position on state sanctioned murder. (Cue the rabid revenge-mongers punching the "dislike" button)
Utrack
If the death penalty has no place in modern society, then neither does the act of murder. When those murderers got together and decided to abduct this young women did they think murder was uncivilized? No they did not . They wanted to cover their evil deeds. Life in prison and or the death penalty is what is needed for murdering crazies, who do not value life. No matter how old the murdering crazies are if you do the crime you do the time.
Lowly
"every tear"
Was that like, a Freudian slip Zichi?
CrazyJoe
There are presently 132 inmates on death row in Japan. They spend most of their time in solitary confinement in detention houses. They are never sent to prisons since Japanese prisons are not equipped with execution chambers. You are notified only on the day of your execution, usually in the morning. You are not allowed to meet your family members . A priest or monk is available if you wish to see one. If the guard does not stop in front of cell in the morning, you only know you have at least 24 hours to live.
as_the_crow_flies
What's with the petition for the death penalty? That's outrageous! They think trials are like some kind of reality show or talent contest in reverse, where you vote people "out"? Totally disgusting concept - it should be unconstitutional, in places like Japan that have a constitution. A legal system is needed precisely to determine what is just and what is not. While I sympathise with the parents of the victims, the justice system should be blind, not blind with rage. I generally rant about the justice system in Japan if I post, but here I think the Supreme Court has done something right.
plasticmonkey
@crow : exactly right! Ice cream for you!
and apropos of Utrack:
The act of murder truly has no place in modern society. And if the state is the guardian of such a sacred principle, it should set an example by not wielding it as a tool for its own political purposes. The death penalty is the modern equivalent of the Roman colosseum: it makes its supporters happy when people die. And then the public knows its leaders have balls.
The idea of an eye for an eye is barbaric and unconstructive nonsense, and unbecoming of any society that wants to consider itself advanced or democratic.
Thomas Anderson
You can't be absolutely sure that you got the right guy; people make mistakes, and unfortunately in Japan, probably too many times. And we are not Gods so we shouldn't decide who gets to live or die. And it's strange the while murder is illegal, state-sponsored murder is not.
CrazyJoe
In Japan, petitions are a constitutional right. Under Article 15 of the Japanese Constitution, every person has the right of peaceful petition for the redress of grievances for the removal of public officials and for the enactment, repeal or amendment of laws, ordinances or regulations; nor shall any person be in any way discriminated against for sponsoring such a petition.
lucabrasi
@plasticmonkey
Brilliant post, Sir. I couldn't have put it more eloquently if I'd tried!!