A date has been set for what will probably be the final trial of Oshio Manabu (32). The former actor has been arrested several times since August of last year, and in November he received a suspended prison sentence for drug use. But he was rearrested in January for his involvement in the related death of a Ginza hostess is more likely to lead to actual prison time. Tanaka Kaori was found dead and naked in a luxury Tokyo apartment on August 2 and Oshio and his manager later admitted that they had failed to seek medical help for three hours after Tanaka passed out from the use of MDMA (ecstasy). Prosecutors have insisted that there was an 80% chance of saving her life if a doctor had been called to the scene quickly.
At the Tokyo District Court yesterday, it was announced that Oshio’s trial would be held on September 3 and that a verdict would be handed down on September 17, which will be his eighth court appearance. Nihon University Law School professor Itakura Hiroshi commented, “I think prosecutors will ask for a 10-year prison sentence, and he will get about 8.” Oshio, currently occupying a 3-tatami mat cell in a Tokyo detention center, will be the first celebrity to have his fate decided by a citizen jury.