Murder trial of President Gyoza no Ohsho: Considering not allowing ordinary citizens to serve as judges

Yes, that's what they do in Japan.

In 2013 Takayuki Daitothe president of the large Chinese restaurant chain Gyoza no Ohshowas mysteriously gunned down outside its headquarters in Kyoto. It was so mysterious that police did not arrest the suspect, Yukio Tanaka of the Fukuoka-based yakuza group Kudokai, until 2022.

And now Tanaka is finally set to go on trial. However, according to a report by public broadcaster NHK, no members of the general public will be able to serve as judges in this trial. In general, major court cases in Japan are so-called “Subscribe“(Lay judges) who are ordinary citizens and are selected to work with professional judges.

This may sound strange in some countries, but it works very similarly to the jury system often seen in Hollywood movies and on television. There is no such jury system in Japan. Instead, six citizens are recruited from the Japanese electoral register as lay judges for a single trial in the same court as three professional judges.

▼ In this official video from the Ministry of Justice, a cute squirrel analyzes the courtroom layout, where the three professional judges sit in the middle of the courtroom and three lay judges sit on each side.

Similar to a jury, both the professional judges and the lay judges deliberate and vote on the verdict and, if applicable, the sentencing after the facts of the case and the witness testimony have been presented. The decision is made by majority vote, provided that at least one professional judge is in the majority. This means that even if six lay judges vote guilty and the three professional judges vote not guilty, the final verdict is “not guilty”.

A big difference to a Western jury is that Lay judges are more involved in examining the caseInstead of simply listening to the prosecution and defense arguments and managing the court record, they are allowed to actively analyze evidence and ask their own questions of the lawyers or witnesses.

The purpose of using lay judges is to raise citizens' awareness of how the courts work and to help democratize court outcomes. This system is also expected to lead to more lenient sentences, particularly a reduction in the number of death sentences, since the average population tends to be more understanding than professional judges who deal with cases day in and day out.

However, cases involving members of organized crime can be dangerous for judges, as is often seen in Hollywood productions. For this reason, no lay judges were used in previous trials of Kudokai members, and prosecutors have reportedly requested that the Kyoto District Court not use lay judges in this trial either..

The exact motive for Daito's death is unclear, and he was found to have no direct links to organized crime. However, there are allegations that the company's previous owners were involved in shady dealings that Daito wanted to pull the company out of. According to NHK, Kudokai members have also been violent in the past against people who refused to do business with them. For example, they shot dead the owner of a construction company who opposed giving discounts to organized crime and stabbed a restaurant owner who had hung a sign saying he refused service to members of organized crime.

While being chosen as a judge sounds pretty cool, at least compared to a boring jury duty, I certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for the fate of someone who belongs to a group with a proven history of violent grudges. That's better left to the professionals.

Source: NHK (1, 2)
Featured image: Pakutaso
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