A 26-year-old former newspaper delivery man was sentenced...

A 26-year-old former newspaper delivery man was sentenced to death for a September 1999 random stabbing spree in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district that left two people dead and six injured.
The Tokyo District Court found Hiroshi Zota of Okayama Prefecture guilty of murder and attempted murder in the attack, which occurred in broad daylight. Prosecutors demanded he go to the gallows for his crimes.
Zota fatally stabbed Kazuko Sumiyoshi, 66, and Mami Takahashi, 29. Sumiyoshi's 73-year-old husband Tadashi and five others suffered injuries in the Sept. 8, 1999 attack.
Presiding judge Ichitaro Ono ruled that Zota, who is of no fixed address, was mentally competent, dismissing his lawyers' argument that he was suffering from schizophrenia.
During the trial, Takahashi's 36-year-old husband Katsutoshi, said, "I want to kill (Zota) with my own hands." Relatives of other victims made similar comments and demanded the death sentence for Zota.