All Thursday evening papers reported on the opening of a lay judge trial for Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former U.S. civilian base worker accused of assaulting and killing a 20-year-old woman in Uruma, Okinawa, in April last year. During the hearing held at the Naha District Court on Thursday, he denied that he intended to murder the woman but admitted to the charges of rape resulting in death. Mainichi wrote that attention will be focused on the judgment to be handed down by the lay judges in Okinawa. This morning’s Asahi and Mainichi ran detailed reports of the first court hearing.