The six lay judges who participated in Tatsuya Ichihashi's trial on Thursday denied that the heavy media coverage of the high profile case affected their decision and stressed that they based their ruling strictly on the evidence presented at the trial.

The six, who are all male and aged between their 30s and 60s, also said that while they took into account the views of Lindsay Ann Hawker's parents, who demanded the death sentence, they were not swayed by their plea and decided on a life term based on the evidence.

"From previous media coverage, I admit I was slightly prejudiced to begin with (toward Ichihashi.) I thought he was a monster for raping, murdering and abandoning the victim's body," said lay judge No. 3, who is in his 40s and from Mobara, Chiba Prefecture.