KUWATA KAZUYA
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Man sentenced to death for killing 2 women in lay judge trial
(Mainichi Japan) June 22, 2011
SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) -- A 44-year-old man was sentenced to death Tuesday for killing his girlfriend in 2005 and his wife in 2010 in a lay judge trial at the Shizuoka District Court.
It was the seventh capital punishment sentence given by a lay judge panel consisting of three professional and six citizen judges.
The defendant, Kazuya Kuwata, killed Kaori Hibino, 22, around October 2005 and his wife Hiroko, 25, in February 2010 over money and association troubles, according to prosecutors.
During the trial at the district court's Numazu branch, Kuwata pleaded guilty and said he would accept the death penalty.
The defense counsel had sought leniency, arguing his crimes were not pre-meditated.
２女性殺害被告に死刑、裁判員裁判７例目 地裁沼津支部
妻と交際相手の女性を殺害したなどとして、殺人と死体遺棄、強盗殺人などの罪に問われた元リフォーム業桑田一也被告（４４）＝住所不定＝の裁判員裁判で、静岡地裁沼津支部（片山隆夫裁判長）は２１日、検察側の求刑通り死刑とする判決を言い渡した。
裁判員裁判での死刑判決は全国で７例目。
桑田被告は、交際中の女性（当時２２）から約９９０万円の借金返済を迫られたことから２００５年１０月、静岡県沼津市の当時の自宅で女性の首を絞めて殺害して借金返済を免れたほか、１０年２月には同県清水町の自宅で妻（当時２５）を絞殺し、遺体を同県御殿場市の物置に遺棄したとして起訴されていた。