thedrifter
06-05-08, 07:16 AM
2 Marines sentenced for Okinawa taxi robbery
Kyodo News Service
Posted : Thursday Jun 5, 2008 7:21:58 EDT
NAHA, Japan — Two Marines were sentenced to prison terms Thursday for beating a taxi driver and fleeing without paying their fare in the city of Okinawa in January.
The Naha District Court sentenced Cpl. Joseph Riddle, 20, to four years and six months in prison, and a 19-year-old private first class, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, to an indeterminate sentence of between three and four years.
“The defendants paid little heed to the victim’s life or the harm to his body and aimed to get money for personal entertainment,” Presiding Judge Hiroyuki Yoshii said in handing down the ruling. “The acts were selfish and driven by greed.”
Citing the fact that the two had paid compensation to the victim, however, the court issued lesser penalties than demanded by prosecutors.
The prosecutors had sought eight years in prison for Riddle and a prison term of between five and eight years for the 19-year-old.
According to the ruling, the Marines, stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, hit the driver in the face and head with a liquor bottle and their fists, and fled without paying a taxi fare of 2,780 yen ($26) in the early hours of Jan. 7 this year.
Ellie
Kyodo News Service
Posted : Thursday Jun 5, 2008 7:21:58 EDT
NAHA, Japan — Two Marines were sentenced to prison terms Thursday for beating a taxi driver and fleeing without paying their fare in the city of Okinawa in January.
The Naha District Court sentenced Cpl. Joseph Riddle, 20, to four years and six months in prison, and a 19-year-old private first class, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, to an indeterminate sentence of between three and four years.
“The defendants paid little heed to the victim’s life or the harm to his body and aimed to get money for personal entertainment,” Presiding Judge Hiroyuki Yoshii said in handing down the ruling. “The acts were selfish and driven by greed.”
Citing the fact that the two had paid compensation to the victim, however, the court issued lesser penalties than demanded by prosecutors.
The prosecutors had sought eight years in prison for Riddle and a prison term of between five and eight years for the 19-year-old.
According to the ruling, the Marines, stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, hit the driver in the face and head with a liquor bottle and their fists, and fled without paying a taxi fare of 2,780 yen ($26) in the early hours of Jan. 7 this year.
Ellie