Osaka court deliberates constitutionality of hanging
The Osaka District Court began two days of deliberations Tuesday on the constitutionality of hanging condemned criminals as part of a trial for a man accused of arson and the murder of five people.
All six lay judges involved in the trial, as well as two substitutes, attended Tuesday's session even though it wasn't required.
Citizen judges do not have a say on constitutional issues, which are decided only by professional judges under the 2004 law on the lay judge system.
Lawyers for 43-year-old Sunao Takami have argued that execution by hanging, which Japan has been carrying out for about 140 years, is cruel and runs counter to the Constitution's ban on "torture and cruel punishments by any public officer."
The defense team told the court Tuesday it is "human wisdom" that cruel punishment should not be used to penalize criminals in tragic incidents.
An Austrian forensic specialist who has studied cases of death by hanging testified that the possibility of the prisoner being decapitated or not dying immediately can't be ruled out.
The prosecutors in the case have said they don't plan to argue the matter because past Supreme Court rulings have already made clear that capital punishment is constitutional.
Takeshi Tsuchimoto, a former prosecutor who attended hangings during his career, is scheduled to testify Wednesday.
In a ruling on the death penalty in 1948 and one on execution by hanging in 1955, the Supreme Court declared both constitutional and said they were not considered cruel punishment.
The 1948 ruling, however, did state that the death penalty should be considered unconstitutional if the execution method if an evolving society deems it cruel.
Takami, charged with arson, murder and attempted murder, entered a guilty plea when the trial opened in early September before a panel of three professional and six lay judges.
He is accused of pouring a bucket of gasoline on the floor of an Osaka pachinko parlor in July 2009 and setting fire to it, killing five people and injuring 10 others.
The prosecution argues that Takami often exhibited impulsive behavior when he was under stress and that he decided to kill ordinary people to work off his accumulated frustrations.
The focal points in the trial will include whether Takami is mentally competent to be held criminally responsible for his acts and whether the death penalty is constitutional.
The court is expected to hand down its ruling in late October.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0111012a8.html
Bookmarks