Tomohiro Kato pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering seven people and injuring 10 in Tokyo's popular Akihabara electronics district in June 2008.
With the guilty plea, the trial at the Tokyo District Court will now turn on whether the 27-year-old's mental condition at the time of the massacre was stable enough to assign criminal responsibility. This determination will influence his sentence, which could be the death penalty.
"First of all, I would like to apologize to those who have passed away, to those who were injured and to their families," Kato said as presiding Judge Hiroaki Murayama asked him to enter his plea.