A man who had been given a life prison term for murdering two people for insurance money was sentenced to death Thursday by the Takamatsu High Court.
In overthrowing the earlier district court ruling, presiding Judge Toshio Shima of the high court denounced the crimes by Yoshio Yamazaki, 65, as "premeditated and cruel" and said "there is no reason not to hand down capital punishment."
According to the court, Yamazaki, in collusion with an acquaintance, took out a life insurance policy on 49-year-old housewife Sachiko Takada and strangled her with a cord at her home in Miyagi Prefecture in November 1985.
By making it look like Takada killed herself, the two successfully obtained a 22 million yen insurance payout.