A U.S. Navy sailor arrested in Okinawa in June for drunken driving was found guilty on Tuesday but was spared prison time.
The Naha District Court sentenced 21-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, stationed at Kadena Air Base, to three years in prison, suspended for four years, for driving a car under the influence of alcohol and causing an accident that injured three people.
The incident occurred in the town of Kadena on the night of June 4. A heavily intoxicated Mejia drove in the wrong lane and hit two cars, according to the ruling.
While finding no room for leniency, Judge Masanori Nagahashi acknowledged the absence of a criminal record and suspended Mejia's sentence.
The incident occurred during a curfew and off-base drinking ban that followed the arrest in May of an American contractor over the death of a 20-year-old local woman.