Ex-US Marine given indefinite term for Okinawa murder

December 2, 2017

Naha, Okinawa Pref.- Naha District Court on Friday gave an indefinite prison term to former U.S. Marine Kenneth Shinzato for the murder of a young woman in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, in April 2016.

The verdict on the case, which reignited the anger of local residents over the heavy U.S. military presence in the southern Japan prefecture, was in line with the penalty demanded by the prosecution for Shinzato, 33.

"There is no room for leniency, considering his selfish motive," Presiding Judge Toshihiro Shibata said after recognizing that Shinzato had intent to kill at the time.

According to the ruling, Shinzato, then a civilian worker at a U.S. military base in Okinawa, killed the woman, then 20, on a road in Uruma around 10 p.m. on April 28, 2016, by hitting her head with a bar and stabbing her several times around the neck as he attempted to sexually assault her.

He then abandoned her body in an area of scrub in the neighboring village of Onna, the ruling said.

In his trial, held under the lay judge system, Shinzato insisted that he had no intent to kill, while admitting that his rape attempt resulted in her death. He also admitted abandoning her corpse.

The defense claimed that there is a possibility that the victim died from a hard blow to her head while being dragged by Shinzato into the grass.

In the ruling, however, Shibata recognized that the victim died as a result of the series of his actions, suggesting that he attacked her, including multiple stabs with a knife, while knowing that she was at high risk of dying.

Shinzato "continued dangerous violence to her death," he said. "If he had the slightest respect for human life, he could have stopped in the middle."

"There was no fault on the victim's side, and her sorrow (when she was dying) cannot be measured," the judge added. Jiji Press