The families of two victims of convicted killer Toshihiko...

The families of two victims of convicted killer Toshihiko Hasegawa asked the Justice Ministry to commute his death sentence to life in prison. The written request, sent on May 23 to the warden of the Nagoya Detention House, where Hasegawa was on death row, marked the second time the two families petitioned the ministry to spare the 49-year-old killer's life. The ministry did not act on their first plea, made in 1997. Hasegawa was convicted of murdering three men from 1979 to 1983 and sentenced to death in 1993.The family members said they could not forgive Hasegawa, but believed he should devote the rest of his life to atonement for his actions. Hasegawa had also petitioned the Justice Ministry to commute his sentence. Since 1955, only three death row inmates have had their sentences commuted.