Two Okinawa Marines sentenced in cab robbery
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    Exclamation Two Okinawa Marines sentenced in cab robbery

    Two Okinawa Marines sentenced in cab robbery
    By Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
    Pacific edition, Friday, July 7, 2006

    NAHA, Okinawa - Two Camp Foster Marines received prison sentences Wednesday for robbing a cab driver on Camp Foster in January.

    Lance Cpl. Henry Dwayne Morgan, 20, was sentenced to three years and Lance Cpl. Reginald Q. Lowery Jr., 21, was sentenced in Naha District Court to two years and six months in prison with hard labor. Both are assigned to Headquarters and Service Battalion, Camp Foster.

    Clad in civilian clothes, Morgan and Lowery stood at parade rest before Judge Hiroyuki Yoshii as they listened to the court's decision.

    They have been in Japanese custody since Feb. 10, when the U.S. military handed them over to Japanese officials.

    Yoshii said during the sentencing that Morgan and Lowery and a third Marine, who has not been prosecuted for an undisclosed reason, plotted the robbery while drinking in their Camp Foster barracks. The third Marine called the taxi and Morgan, who exited the barracks from a window, approached the driver, displayed a knife and demanded money at about 12:50 a.m. Jan. 7. The cab driver, Tetsuo Hamazato, 62, handed over a box containing about 5,000 yen ($44) and $5 in U.S. currency. The driver sustained no physical injury.

    "Preparing a knife in advance and calling a taxi, the crime was premeditated," Yoshii said. Should one step have gone wrong, he said, the crime could have had a more serious outcome.

    The victim experienced tremendous fear and the incident shocked local communities, the judge said.

    "There is no extraordinary circumstance to take into consideration," he said, explaining the reason for not suspending the sentences as their defense attorneys had argued in the previous session.

    Morgan carried out the crime and Lowery encouraged him by calling the taxi company to make sure a taxi was dispatched, Yoshii said.

    In the final-argument phase of the trial in June, prosecutor Masahisa Yokota demanded a five-year prison term for Morgan and four-year sentence for Lowery.

    "On the other hand," the judge said, "the victim accepted apologies from both defendants and their supervisors, asking the court for leniency."

    Yoshii continued: "Both defendants expressed remorse and have no previous criminal records. They are still young and there are possibilities that they can pull themselves together once again."


  2. #2
    Marine Free Member 10thzodiac's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fontman
    NAHA, Okinawa - Two Camp Foster Marines received prison sentences Wednesday for robbing a cab driver on Camp Foster in January."
    I just got back from a civilian trip to Japan for thirty days May 1st. I understand in Japanese prisons, they have no beds or chairs. During daylight hours no leaning on the walls or laying on the floors. If my Japanese brother-in-law is the jailer he could be a real prick.

    When I was in Okinawa 1963-65 a 小さい (scoshi) cab costs 17 cents and a regular cab 25 cents for a short trip. Now it averages around 3 dollars a minute in Tokyo.

    One of my niece-in-law's husband is a Japanese security guard at Camp Hansen, Okinawa. Better they shoot a civilian than a Marine shoot one.


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    10thzodiac- Is that where you picked up the Kanji?


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    Marine Free Member 10thzodiac's Avatar
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    Exclamation Giving away my secrets

    Quote Originally Posted by Osotogary
    10thzodiac- Is that where you picked up the Kanji?
    Actually I got it here... http://www.worldlingo.com/en/product...ranslator.html

    I speak a little Japanese, write only in english

    What's funny, the part of Japan where my wife comes from if you spoke her dialect other Japanese people wouldn't understand you at all. I didn't know this for sure for over thirty-five years. I use to listen to her telephone conversations home and I'd say to myself, that doesn't sound like the Japanese that I hear on our Japanese Satellite TV. I'm guessing they write all that stuff the same with Kanji, Hiragana and katagana though.

    Wife has a second cousin in Colorado, who married a sailor off the USS Enterprise and that guy is a wiz at that stuff, makes me look real bad, my wife's cousin is a wiz at English too, college kids


  5. #5
    you do the crime; you got time to do the time...We are guest on their island, Seen alot and have had attended alot of courts due to the Marines in my units. They may think jail on the rock is rough... will think better when there home, and why freedom is so important. Sorry guys but maybe they didn't offer enough "gominh" for there prank gone wrong with the alcohol they consumed prior to the crime! " Do not bring discredit Upon our Egale globe and anchor...We may be Marines but; not all Marines see it the same way!


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