Polarizing statements close sailor’s trial in Japan

[unhappycamper]

Polarizing statements close sailor’s trial in Japan
By Allison Batdorff, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, April 26, 2008

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Ten years with hard labor is what USS Gary sailor Joshua David Williams deserves for attempting to kill two Japanese females last summer, prosecutor Yumiko Fujishima told judges Thursday.

Williams deserves “much less” prison time because the sailor didn’t intend to kill anyone, countered defense attorney Yasutoshi Murakami.

Polarizing closing arguments were heard Thursday in the Yokohama District Court in Yokosuka, with attorneys from both sides calling each other’s witnesses irrational and inconsistent.

Williams is on trial for attempted murder based on the early morning events of July 5, 2007, when he stabbed a knife into a 16-year-old girl’s abdomen and stabbed and slashed a 26-year-old woman 17 times in a Yokosuka rental home.

“If I could take that day back, I would,” Williams said Thursday, adding that he never imagined he was “capable” of such violence.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54320

[Captain Hilts]

1. God, I wish the military would stop referring to 'women' as 'females'...

'females' includes dogs, cats, plants, etc.