JAPAN: TOP COURT REJECTS DEATH PENALTY APPEALS OVER QUADRUPLE MURDER

October 3, 2011: the second petty bench of the Japanese Supreme Court refused to review death penalty appeals filed by two defendants over the murders in 2004 of four people in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The second petty bench of the Supreme Court handed down the ruling, upholding lower court decisions to sentence Mami Kitamura, 52, and her 27-year-old son, Takahiro, to death for killing four people in 2004. In handing down the ruling, the bench said, "Their criminal responsibility is extremely heavy."
Mami Kitamura's 67-year-old husband, Jitsuo, and her 30-year-old son Takashi had separately appealed against lower court rulings to sentence them to death in the same murder case. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down rulings on Oct. 17. (Sources: Mainichi Japan, 04/10/2011)