Kohinata Masato
Supreme Court Upholds Sentence
The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence on a gangster for killing a rival gang member and three bystanders in a shooting at a bar in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, in 2003. The top court’s No. 2 petty bench dismissed an appeal by Masato Kohinata, a 39-year-old former senior gangster, against lower court decisions sentencing him to death.
In the case, two other gangsters have appealed their death sentences to a higher court. On the night of Jan 25, 2003, Kohinata and one other person went to the bar and started shooting, killing three customers and seriously wounding their target—a rival gang boss—and another person. A bodyguard of the targeted gangster was shot dead outside the bar.
Mob killer's death sentence stands
The Japan Times: March 17, 2006
The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence imposed on a gangster for gunning down a mob boss' bodyguard and three bystanders in a bar in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, in 2003.
Masato Kohinata, a 36-year-old senior member of Yano Mutsumi-kai, immediately filed an appeal.
Presiding Judge Atsushi Senba said Kohinata "committed the act with a resolute intent to kill and without any hesitation whatsoever."
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