JAPAN: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR MAN FOR KILLING 2 HOUSEWIVES IN KANAGAWA

the third petty bench of the Japanese Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Koichi Shoji, 53, an unemployed man of no fixed address. Shoji will be sent to the gallows for killing two housewives in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2001. Earlier rulings convicted Shoji of burglary and murder in the 2001 murder cases. In handing down the ruling, the judge said, "The defendant's responsibility for brutally killing two innocent people during such a short period of time is extremely grave."