Overview
- Prosecutors have opened a lay-judge trial in Nagoya over a January apartment blaze that killed three people, saying the defendant had a motive tied to an unpaid ¥50,000 loan and made a prior attempt to ignite clothing.
- The defense in the Nagoya case argues the defendant lacks criminal intent because of an intellectual disability and a diminished mental state and says he could not have foreseen the deaths from burning clothes.
- A separate trial in Yokohama acquitted a man of murder and arson for a January house fire that killed his bedridden father, while convicting him on a theft charge and handing a 1 year 8 month sentence suspended for four years.
- The Yokohama court said factors such as a pre-fire electricity cutoff that could have led to candle use, the defendant's mental and physical troubles, the home's hoarding and winter dryness left reasonable doubt about intentional killing.
- Early on June 10 a fire in Fukui City destroyed multiple wooden homes, left one body in the ruins and is under police investigation, and authorities and prosecutors will be watched for new findings and further court developments.