Defense challenges competence in probation officer murder
A 36-year-old man on Tuesday admitted to murdering a hogoshi private-sector volunteer probation officer in charge of him in 2024, while the defense for him argued that he is not mentally competent to bear responsibility for the crime.In the first hearing of his lay-judge trial at Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture, the defendant, Kohei Iitsuka, said: "It's true. I did it (the murder), following the voice of my guardian deity."The defense claimed that the defendant was not mentally competent or was in a state of diminished capacity, saying that he was "under the control of the voice inside his head at the time."
