JAPAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING PARENTS OF EX-BOYFRIENDS

June 11, 2013: A 47 year old man was sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court for the murder of three people in Yamagata Prefecture and Tokyo between 2010 and 2011. Katsumi Asayama was convicted of killing the parents and mother of his former live-in partners who left him to go back to their respective parents’ homes.
In October 2010, he set fire to the house of Takeyoshi Yamaka, 71, killing him and his wife, Kazuko, 69 in the process. One of their sons was involved with Asayama but left him, which led to the crime. Asayama’s lawyers argued that while he admits to setting the fire, he did not intend to kill anyone. But the prosecutors said that he set the fire knowing there was a possibility someone would die.
Then on November 2011, he burned charcoal in the apartment of Michiko Otsuka, 76, in Koto Ward, causing her to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Asayama went to see her son, another ex-boyfriend, but the mother refused to let them talk, which angered the suspect. His ex-wife, who conspired with him in this killing, was also convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The prosecutors demanded for the capital punishment for Ayasama.
Presiding judge Masahiro Hiraki said the court decided to choose the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for the crimes of Asayama because he committed them out of selfish reasons.
He is the 18th person to receive the death penalty from a lay judge since 2009, which was the start of civic participation in criminal trials. (Sources: Kyodo News, 11/06/2013)