JAPAN. TOP COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH

Japan’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by a man who was sentenced to death for killing a couple in a robbery-murder case in 1997 in Osaka. Hisashi Eto, 64, planned to rob Motoo Takagi, 67, and his wife Hiroko, 65, of money at their home in Sakai, Osaka, in conspiracy with three others, according to the ruling of the top court's first petty bench. Eto killed the couple on October 30, 1997, after he let his accomplices leave Takagi's house, and seized some 150,000 yen in cash, the ruling said.