JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 4 PEOPLE

Katsumi Morita was sentenced to death for murdering four people in three robbery cases over a three-month period in 2002. The Chiba District Court, Japan, found Katsumi Morita, 56, of no fixed address, guilty of murder and robbery.
Morita conspired with Tetsuo Odajima, 63, to break into the home of Takaichi Mabuchi, 74, chairman of Mabuchi Motor Co. in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in August 2002, according to the ruling. He strangled Mabuchi's 66-year-old wife Etsuko and their 40-year-old daughter, Yuka, stole hundreds of thousands of yen in cash and 10 jewelry items worth some 9.7 million yen, and set fire to the home before fleeing, the court said.
In late September of that year, they broke into the home of dentist Fumio Aoyagi, 71, in Meguro-ku, Tokyo, stabbed him in the chest and strangled him, according to the court. They then stole 350,000 yen in cash and a ring worth 30,000 yen.
Morita and Odajima also stormed into the home of 65-year-old Kimie Oshima in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, in November 2002, murdered her and stole 1 million yen in cash, the court found.
Odajima was being tried separately at the same court.