Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, of Ohio, was sentenced on Tuesday after being found sexually assaulting a woman on Okinawa.
In Tokyo, Japan, a U.S. Marine has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman on Okinawa and has received a seven-year prison sentence. This case has sparked outrage and safety concerns on the southern island due to the significant presence of American troops there.
The Naha District Court said Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, of Ohio, was sentenced in the case on Tuesday.
The Marine, named Clayton, was found guilty of assaulting a woman in her twenties in the Yomitan village on the main Okinawa island in May 2024. The assault involved choking her from behind, sexually assaulting her, and causing her physical harm.
During the sentencing, Judge Kazuhiko Obata emphasized the credibility of the victim’s testimony, delivered remotely and anonymously. Despite the defendant’s denial of the charges brought by the prosecutors, who had requested a ten-year prison term, the judge found the victim’s account to be highly credible.
“This behavior does not reflect the values of the Marine Corps nor does it exemplify the standards the overwhelming majority of our Marines uphold daily,” Capt. Kazuma Engelkemier, spokesperson for 3rd Marine Division, said in a statement confirming Clayton’s conviction emailed on Wednesday.
Engelkemier said the U.S. side monitored the trial proceedings without interfering in the Japanese judicial process. “We cooperated fully with the investigation process,” he said.
The Marine has been in Japanese custody since his indictment that followed the allegation, he added.
The case was one of a string of sexual assault cases last year in which the arrests of the suspects were initially withheld by local authorities on grounds of protecting the victims’ privacy, triggering anger and criticisms of coverups.
Okinawa, where one of the fiercest battles of World War II was fought 80 years ago and under U.S. occupation until 1972, remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities.
Frustration runs high on Okinawa because of its continued burden with the heavy U.S. presence that includes noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, who attended Monday’s 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, raised concerns about recent sexual assault cases involving U.S. service members when he met with Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, the commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, requesting discipline and preventive measures.
There has been growing calls for a revision to the Status of Forces Agreement that gives the United States the right to investigate most accidents and crimes that occur on Japanese soil.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ‘s Cabinet on Tuesday adopted a statement showing that the Japanese prosecutors dropped criminal cases against more than 300 U.S. service members in the last decade between 2014 and 2024, including a sexual assault case in Okinawa in 2020.
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