4 lay judges in murder trial reluctant to serve as citizen judges again

(Mainichi Japan) October 30, 2009

HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka -- Four lay judges who participated in a murder trial here on Thursday expressed their hesitation to take part in another trial in the future.

Four of the six jurors in the case, including one woman, attended a press conference following the ruling, and said that they feel reluctant to serve as citizen judges again, with one member expressing his dissatisfaction at the deliberation process.

The lay judges handed down a 13-year prison sentence to Koichi Matsuda, 50, for murdering his 46-year-old girlfriend, falling short of the 15-year imprisonment demanded by prosecutors, during the lay judge trial at the Shizuoka District Court's Hamamatsu branch that began on Tuesday.

Asked if they would like to take part in a trial again, three of them answered: "I don't want to," "It's hard to say," and "Not really," showing their reluctance to take on the role again.

A 28-year-old citizen judge questioned the deliberation process, saying "I didn't understand the purpose of the lay judge system. I felt that our feelings were not reflected in the decision-making. I wonder if it was just about us being forced to hang around for three days."

Feeling a lack of attention toward their opinions, he requested the judge to listen to them during the deliberations and breaks, but the judge did not accept it, the man said.

"The judge kept telling us 'It's regulated by law,' so there was nothing we could do about it."

Meanwhile, a female lay judge who served in the trial, who is a civil servant, said: "We don't really know when our views are taken into account and when not."

After the press conference, the court decided that the male juror's statement about the trial did not breach the confidentiality obligation of lay judges.