The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that...

The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced former gangster Ryoji Goto to death for killing two people in two separate cases. Presiding Judge Toshio Yamada ruled that Goto, 45, a former senior member of an underworld syndicate, was criminally responsible for the killings of a male acquaintance in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, by dumping him in a river, and a woman in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, by injecting her with large amount of stimulants, and for injuring three others.
Upholding the 2003 decision by the Utsunomiya District Court, Yamada said, "The crime was extremely wicked and the cruelty shown by the defendant is extraordinary." "The court has no choice but to give the defendant capital punishment," Yamada said. "The defendant bears grave criminal responsibility as he played a leading role in the cases in which he took heinous actions against the victims."
Defense lawyers argued that Goto was under the influence of stimulants and mentally weak at the time of the incidents but the court dismissed the claim, saying his court statements were understandable and he was mentally competent to be held responsible for his actions.
According to the ruling, Goto conspired with five others to threaten four people at gunpoint and confined them to an apartment in Utsunomiya on August 20-21, 2000. The ruling said the four were tied up and injected with a large amount of stimulants, which killed one of them, Masumi Kobayashi, 24, a restaurant employee, and injured three others. Goto was also charged with conspiring with another gang member, Noriyuki Onodera, 35, to kill an acquaintance. They dumped the male acquaintance into a river in the city of Mito after tying him up with rope, and drowned him July 30, 2000. Onodera was sentenced to life in prison for the man's murder.