Staff writer

Watching a remorseful Dr. Ikuo Hayashi weep and wail in the courtroom, many in the gallery could not help but wonder how this former elite heart surgeon became involved in a chain of crimes unprecedented in postwar Japan, leading to his being sentenced to life in prison Tuesday.

Having worked at a Detroit hospital and then as head of a national hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture, Hayashi began to search for what he thought modern medical science lacked. He found his answer in Buddhism. Hayashi joined the Agonshu religious cult before meeting Shoko Asahara and joining Aum Shinrikyo in 1989.