A former mayor of Mima, Tokushima Prefecture, was sentenced Wednesday to 4½ years in prison for a car crash that killed three people a year ago.
The Tokushima District Court handed down the sentence to Hisashi Makita, 75, who was the mayor at the time of the fatal crash, which also seriously injured two others and himself.
The ruling said Makita was dozing at the wheel when his car veered and collided with another vehicle coming in the opposite direction in a tunnel on a national route in the city on May 5, 2016, killing three people and injuring another in the oncoming car.
Makita and his wife, who was in his car, also sustained serious injuries. Makita stepped down from his post 11 days later.
His lawyer said he has no intention of appealing the sentence.
