TV is one thing, but the courtroom is another

"After wearing it for a day/ I fold my faded blue prison garb/ Feeling the lingering warmth of my body." This tanka was composed by Akito Shima, who committed murder when he was 24 and was executed at age 33 in 1967. The poem describes the joy he felt at the end of each day and is a testament to his deep remorse and appreciation of life.

If I were a citizen judge, what judgment would I have passed on the person who killed a mother and her daughter in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture, nine years ago?

In an appealed court decision passed Tuesday, the presiding judge at the Hiroshima High Court, ordered by the Supreme Court to retry the case, overturned two previous life sentences and handed down the death sentence to the defendant who was 18 at the time of the crime.

There are two images that I can clearly picture in my mind when I think about the case. One is a photo of the victim Yayoi Motomura holding her baby daughter. She was 23 and her child was 11 months old when they were murdered. Their bodies would never be warm again.

The other is the image of her bereaved husband Hiroshi, 32, who sought the death penalty. I cannot think of anyone who can put words to his simmering resentment more quietly yet strongly than him.

When I think about the atrocity of the crime, the death penalty may seem inevitable. Still, I cannot completely cast aside my doubts.

Prior to the court ruling, the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization of Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) and commercial broadcasters made reference to the way television news shows have been treating the case and pointed out that they were presenting the image of a "bizarre defendant and his counsel" versus "the bereaved family" and making emotional comments based on the images.

I cannot say for sure I have not been influenced by such images. Before I realized it, I found myself identifying with Hiroshi Motomura. Meanwhile, the only image I have of the defendant is from behind as drawn by a court artist. Had I seen his expressions and known the way he carried himself as a boy, I might have felt differently.

The citizen judge system is due to take off in about a year. Although the system only applies to trials of the first instance, citizen judges would probably be required to pass judgments that seriously affect the lives of suspects or even end them in the courtroom where evidence and emotions are mixed.

Since citizen judges are chosen by lottery, you or I may also be appointed. Are we prepared to try suspects as human beings made of flesh and blood, not in our living rooms, but in the same room, face to face?

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 23(IHT/Asahi: April 24,2008)