ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NAHA, OKINAWA
SOURCE: Associated Press|
Three U.S. servicemen were convicted today in the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl and sentenced to 6 1/2 to 7 years in prison in a case that became a symbol of America's controversial bases on this Pacific island.
The verdict, handed down by a panel of three judges at the Naha District Court, followed six months of protests against the U.S. presence. Support for American troops on Okinawa is at one of its lowest points since World War II.
None of the three U.S. GIs - Navy Seaman Marcus Gill of Woodville, Texas; Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp of Griffin, Ga.; and Marine Pfc. Kendrick Ledet of Waycross, Ga. - showed emotion when the sentences were read.
Gill and Harp were sentenced to seven years, and Ledet received 61/2 years. The sentences, tough by Japanese standards, will be served in Yokosuka prison, just south of Tokyo.
All three had confessed to some role in the crime. On the trial's opening day, Gill said he raped the girl, while Ledet and Harp said they helped abduct her.
In a statement, the judges said the crime was carried out ``systematically,'' violated the victim's human dignity and caused her extreme physical and psychological harm.
The U.S. Embassy said an American military observer present at all the proceedings reported no problems contrary to U.S. or Japanese judicial practices.
``Japan is a nation under the rule of law, just as the United States is a nation under the rule of law,'' the statement said. ``We respect each other's legal processes.''
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