Naha District Court, which houses the Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court, is pictured in Naha city, Okinawa, March 5, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
NAHA, Okinawa — A Japanese court on Thursday upheld a U.S. Marine’s conviction for strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman at her Okinawa home in May 2024.
Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 23, of Ohio, must serve the remainder of his seven-year sentence in a Japanese prison, a three-judge panel ruled at the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court. He received credit for 190 days served.
Clayton sat in the middle of the courtroom and remained expressionless as Presiding Judge Hiroaki Kikuchi read the ruling aloud.
A separate three-judge panel, accompanied by six lay judges in Naha District Court, convicted Clayton on June 24 of non-consensual sexual intercourse resulting in injury.
The district court ruling cited the woman’s testimony.
She testified June 3 that Clayton followed her into a taxi from Gate 2 Street to Yomitan village. He then choked her to unconsciousness several times, unsuccessfully attempted to unzip her pants and masturbated behind her in the entryway of the home she shared with her then-boyfriend, a U.S. airman, according to her testimony.
Clayton testified June 5 that he was invited to share the taxi and to enter the home.
Clayton’s attorney, Kotaro Ito, in a statement to the court on Oct. 10 argued the woman’s testimony was not credible because she could not have defended against an attack while being strangled for 20 to 30 minutes.
Kikuchi in court Thursday dismissed the argument, saying it “lacked a scientific explanation.”
Ito also accused the woman’s boyfriend of assaulting her during the 15-minute window before she called police. Kikuchi on Thursday also dismissed this argument as “without merit.”
“If so, it would be difficult to reasonably explain why they got married after the incident,” he said.
Clayton may appeal to the Supreme Court in Tokyo, the final venue in Japan’s three-tier court system.
Clayton’s case, and that of Senior Airman Brennon Washington, convicted in December 2024 of sexually assaulting a minor, fueled public backlash and protests from Okinawa’s government.
In response, the U.S. military imposed tighter liberty restrictions for troops in Japan.
The Supreme Court dismissed Washington’s final appeal on Jan. 30.
Two other U.S. service members stationed on Okinawa have also been indicted on separate sexual assault charges.
AloJapan.com