Public prosecutors said Thursday they will not appeal a Naha District Court ruling convicting a U.S. Marine of attempted molestation but not of attempted rape, with which he had been charged.
"There are points in the ruling we cannot agree with," said Hiroyuki Kawami, deputy chief prosecutor of the Naha District Public Prosecutor's Office.
He said, however, that appealing would be "of little benefit" as the victim of the crime has told the court she does not want to see Maj. Michael Brown punished.
But later in the day, Brown filed an appeal against the ruling at the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court. Thursday was the deadline for both sides to appeal.
The court on July 8 dismissed a charge of attempted rape and sentenced Brown, 41, to a suspended one-year prison term for attempted molestation and destruction of property.
According to the ruling, Brown tried to molest the woman on the morning of Nov. 2, 2002, in a car in the city of Gushikawa, Okinawa Prefecture. He was also found guilty of destroying the woman's property by throwing her cell phone into a river after she tried to call the police.