The Tokyo District Court sentenced a 39-year-old man Aug. 12 to a 12-year prison term for gunning down a doctor at a railway station in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, in October 1994 because he felt he had been the victim of malpractice by the surgeon.
The defense counsel for Masami Nomoto, 39, claimed their defendant was not of sound mind at the time of the killing and should not be held liable for the murder.
Although Nomoto underwent a hernia operation at Tokyo Metropolitan Taito Hospital, he experienced complications and believed he had been used as a human guinea pig, according to the court. Nomoto often visited the hospital afterward to protest.