The Osaka District Court sentenced a 52-year-old man to death Monday for killing two people in two separate robberies in Osaka Prefecture in 2011.

According to the ruling, Munehiro Nishiguchi killed housewife Takeko Tamura, 67, in November 2011 in the city of Sakai and robbed her of around ¥310,000.

In a separate case, he choked Zojirushi Corp. Vice President Soshu Ozaki, 84, to death in the same city the following month, robbing him of about ¥800,000.

In the ruling handed down by the court's Sakai branch, the presiding judge, Hiroshi Mori, said the crimes were "extremely brutal and cold-blooded."

Nishiguchi's defense counsel is expected to file an appeal.

His defense team had argued that Nishiguchi, who was unemployed, should be sentenced to life in prison, asserting that execution by hanging is cruel and violates the Constitution.