TV is one thing, but the courtroom is another.
"After wearing it for a day/ I fold my faded blue prison garb*1/ Feeling the lingering warmth of my body." This tanka was composed by Akito Shima, who committed*2 murder when he was 24 and was executed*3 at age 33 in 1967. The poem describes the joy he felt at the end of each day and is testament*4 to his deep remorse*5 and appreciation of life.
If I were a citizen judge, what judgement would I have passed on *6 the person who killed a mother and her daughter in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture, nine years ago? In an appealed court decision passed Tuseday, the presiding judge at Hiroshima High Court, ordered by Supreme Court to retry the case, overturned*7 two previous life sentences*8 and handed down*9 the death sentence to the defendant who was 18 at the time of the crime.
There are two images that I can clearly picture in my mind when I think about the case. One is a photo of the victim Yayoi Motomura holding her baby daughter. She was 23 and her child was 11 months old when they were murdered. Their bodies would never be warm again.
If I were a citizen judge, what judgement would I have passed on *6 the person who killed a mother and her daughter in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture, nine years ago? In an appealed court decision passed Tuseday, the presiding judge at Hiroshima High Court, ordered by Supreme Court to retry the case, overturned*7 two previous life sentences*8 and handed down*9 the death sentence to the defendant who was 18 at the time of the crime.
There are two images that I can clearly picture in my mind when I think about the case. One is a photo of the victim Yayoi Motomura holding her baby daughter. She was 23 and her child was 11 months old when they were murdered. Their bodies would never be warm again.
