Yamada Koji
Death sentence finalized for man over 2015 murder of 2 children
OSAKA
The death sentence has been finalized for a 49-year-old man convicted of the 2015 murder of two junior high school students in western Japan after he withdrew his appeal, a court said Tuesday.
Koji Yamada retracted the appeal on May 18, according to the Osaka High Court.
During the first hearing of his trial at the Osaka District Court in November 2018, Yamada denied intending to kill Natsumi Hirata, 13, and pleaded not guilty over the death of 12-year-old Ryoto Hoshino, insisting he had died of an illness.
The district court sentenced him to death on Dec. 19, saying Yamada suffocated the two around Aug 13, 2015, in Osaka Prefecture or its vicinity.
It is unclear why Yamada retracted the appeal. He said in an interview with Kyodo News last December after the ruling was handed down that he had not expected to be subject to capital punishment.
"I'm shocked because I wasn't ready for the death penalty," Yamada said.
He also said in another interview in March "If I do not appeal the decision, everyone will think that I did it."
A senior official of the Osaka High Public Prosecutors Office said his decision was unexpected and the office had been preparing for an appeal.
On the evening of Aug 12, 2015, Hirata and Hoshino, who attended the same city-run junior high school, went missing after meeting up in the area where they lived.
Hirata's body was found the following day in a parking lot in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, while Hoshino's remains were found on Aug 21 in a mountainous area of Kashiwara, which Yamada had visited. He was arrested the same day.
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Man sentenced to death for 2015 murder of 2 students in Osaka Pref.
December 19, 2018 (Mainichi Japan)
OSAKA (Kyodo) -- A court sentenced a 48-year-old man to death on Wednesday for killing two junior high school students in Osaka Prefecture in 2015, stating that the defendant had made false claims about the deaths of the victims.
During his trial at the Osaka District Court, Koji Yamada had denied intending to kill 13-year-old Natsumi Hirata and pleaded not guilty over the death of 12-year-old Ryoto Hoshino, who he insisted had died of an illness.
While there was no physical proof of Yamada's involvement in the crimes, the court rejected his claims and ruled that he had suffocated Hirata either by choking her with his hands or covering her nose and mouth with adhesive tape on or around Aug. 13, 2015, and that he had also suffocated Hoshino.
"The defendant continued to put strong pressure on the victims' necks for several minutes, and it is obvious that he had the intent to kill," Presiding Judge Ryuta Asaka said in handing down the ruling.
Upholding prosecutors' claims, the ruling also said the likelihood that Hoshino, who had no health problems, had died of natural causes was very low, and it could be inferred that Yamada had suffocated him.
In court Yamada listened quietly as the judge criticized his testimonies as "false" and "fiction."
On the evening of Aug. 12, 2015, Hirata and Hoshino, who attended the same city-run junior high school, went missing after meeting outside in the area where they lived. The prosecutors said Yamada met the two for the first time at a deli in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, on the morning of Aug. 13, and lured them into his car.
Hirata's body was found the following day in a parking lot in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, while Hoshino's skeletal remains were found on Aug. 21 in a mountainous area of Kashiwara, which Yamada had visited. The accused was arrested on the same day.
The prosecutors built their case against Yamada by collecting circumstantial evidence, including his records of online searches such as "DNA test, sweat, body" on his mobile phone, security camera footage of him buying adhesive tape, and a small amount of blood and skin fragments matching those of the two victims found in his light vehicle.
The defense team argued that Yamada tried to silence Hirata, who became excited after Hoshino fell ill, by covering her mouth with his hands and that his hands may have slipped below to her throat.
They said that Yamada did not have any intention of killing Hirata and should be charged with assault resulting in her death rather than murder.
The defense team also said Yamada had a mental disorder and was in a state of diminished capacity at the time.
Yamada underwent a psychiatric evaluation following his arrest that concluded he was not suffering from any mental disability. It did, however, allow for the possibility that he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
As for Hoshino's case, the prosecutors argued the boy appeared healthy in images captured by security cameras shortly before his death and said there is no possibility that he died of an illness.
The court concluded that the murders were "unprecedentedly malicious" and said that two precious lives that should have been protected had been lost.
In sentencing, the court also referred to Yamada's previous criminal record of sexual assault and said it is difficult to believe that he would reform.
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