Sakamoto Haruno
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Woman, 77, must hang: top court
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld lower court rulings sentencing a 77-year-old woman to death for killing her husband and another woman for insurance money.
It is the first time the top court has backed the death penalty for a defendant 70 or older since the earliest Supreme Court records, which date to 1966.
According to the court, Haruno Sakamoto conspired with her younger sister and brother-in-law to suffocate her 54-year-old husband at her house in Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, in January 1987, and obtained about 50 million yen in life insurance.
In August 1992, she killed a 60-year-old woman in conspiracy with a former insurance agent to obtain insurance money.
The Japan Times: Nov. 20, 2004
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