In what appears to be a first in the judicial system, an Osaka man has been sentenced to hang for killing a woman even though there was only one victim and the perpetrator had no previous criminal record.
Judge Kosuke Morioka of the Okayama District Court, presiding over a panel of professional and lay judges trying Koichi Sumida, 30, said Thursday the victim was also sexually assaulted, making the case "grave."
Sumida's lawyer immediately appealed the sentence.