The Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for a 35-year-old...

The Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for a 35-year-old man convicted of killing four people in four prefectures between 1984 and 1991. Justice Shinichi Kawai of the court's No. 2 petty bench said the murders by former factory worker Masahiro Tanaka were vicious and cruel and that the court found no mitigating circumstances to take into account. The Yokohama District Court sentenced him to death in January 1994, and the Tokyo High Court upheld the ruling in December 1995.