November 7, 1995
Web posted at: 9:10 a.m. EST (1410 GMT)
From Correspondent May Lee and wire reports
OKINAWA, Japan (CNN) -- Despite guilty pleas Tuesday, the case of three U.S. servicemen accused of raping a 12-year-old girl on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa could continue for months. As the trial began, Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, 22, pleaded guilty to rape. Marine privates Rodrico Harp, 21, and Kendrick Ledet, 20, admitted to helping plan the September 4 attack but denied raping the girl. Harp also confessed to hitting the girl as she was abducted. In a written statement read in court, the girl said, "I hope they will be kept in jail as long as they live."
The prosecution maintains all three are guilty of rape. The case, which has enraged Okinawans, has raised questions about the future of the U.S. military presence in Japan and threatens to overshadow a November 20 Tokyo summit between U.S. President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. The next court session is scheduled for December 4. Unlike in American courts, Japanese trials do not occur in consecutive daily sessions; hearings are separated by weeks or even months.
According to prosecutors, Gill, Harp and Ledet snatched the
girl off the street and forced her into a rented van. Harp
and Ledet taped shut her eyes and mouth, bound her feet and
hands and beat her face and stomach to keep her from
struggling, prosecutors said. Authorities maintain that Gill
and Harp then raped the girl at an isolated beach. Ledet
tried and was unable, they said. Gill's attorney, Masanori
Higa, said stress and pressure from military officials drove
Gill to commit a crime.
Despite the plea of Harp and Ledet to the lesser charge of
conspiracy, Harp's attorney, Mitsunobu Matsunaga, told CNN
that rape and conspiracy are nearly the same in the eyes of a
Japanese judge. If convicted, all three men could be
sentenced from three years to life in prison. Gill is from
Woodville, Texas. Harp is from Griffin, Georgia. Ledet is
from Waycross, Georgia.
When the trial resumes, defense attorneys are expected to offer the victim compensation, which could lead to a reduction of sentence. But for the girl's family, money may mean little. In a statement read by prosecutors in court, the victim's father said, "If existing laws permitted, I wish to kill the three American soldiers."
The rape case has intensified debate about whether the 47,000
U.S. troops in Japan are still needed. More than half of
them are based on Okinawa at military facilities that cover
nearly 20 percent the tropical island's land area. Last
month about 85,000 Okinawans demonstrated against the bases
in the biggest protest against their presence since the
United States, which had occupied the island from World War
II, handed back the island to Japan in 1972.
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