Top Court Rejects Guilty Ruling for Kodansha Ex-Editor

Tokyo, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Supreme Court dismissed on Monday a high court ruling that found a former deputy chief editor at major publisher Kodansha Ltd. guilty of murdering his wife.

At the top court's First Petty Bench, Presiding Justice Atsushi Yamaguchi rejected the 11-year prison sentence handed down by a district court and upheld by Tokyo High Court.

Describing the earlier trials as inadequate, the justice sent back the case to the high court.

It is the first time for a guilty ruling reached in a district court under the lay judge system to be thrown out by the top court after being upheld by a second court.

The 47-year-old defendant is accused of strangling his wife in their house in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward on Aug. 9, 2016, according to the district and high court rulings.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]