The Nagoya District Court sentenced a 39-year-old unemployed man Wednesday to an indefinite prison term for murdering and robbing an elderly couple in Nagoya in 1996.
Kazuo Nakayama was found guilty of fatally stabbing Hirohiko Yokoi, a 70-year-old owner of a camera store, and his 66-year-old wife, Takako, at their home in Nagoya's Naka Ward and robbing them of some 100,000 yen on July 26, 1996.
Nakayama, who was under the influence of stimulant drugs at the time of the murders, underwent three psychiatric examinations.
Nakayama's lawyers argued that he was not of sound mind and should not be held criminally liable, but prosecutors said he was mentally competent and demanded the death penalty.
Nakayama was indicted on seven other charges, including injuring a woman at her home in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, during a July 17, 1996, robbery in which he made off with her videocassette recorder