Photo/Illutration A passer-by prays at a spot near one of the victim's homes where flowers were left in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, in September 2015. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office announced on Dec. 19 that it would not appeal a high court decision that overturned the death sentence of a Peruvian man convicted of murdering six people in Saitama Prefecture in 2015.

The Tokyo High Court overturned the death sentence for Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludena, 34, and sentenced him to life in prison on Dec. 5.

Nakada Ludena was charged with robbery and the murder of six people aged between 7 and 84 in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, after breaking into three homes during a three-day crime spree.

The prosecutors office decision not to appeal the Tokyo High Court ruling to the Supreme Court took the death penalty off the table.

“We have been considering an appeal based on the importance of the case and the emotions of the bereaved families,” said deputy prosecutor Shin Kukimoto. “But as we could not find a legal basis to do so, unfortunately we concluded that we had to give up on an appeal.”

The Tokyo High Court ruling on Dec. 5 recognized that Nakada Ludena had a diminished mental capacity, lacking the ability to take responsibility for his actions due to paranoia caused by schizophrenia.

While citizen judges of the Saitama District Court concluded that he was mentally competent to take responsibility for his actions, the high court ruled that the lower court erred in his psychiatric evaluation and did not properly evaluate his incomprehensible behavior.

Nakada Ludena's lawyers appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court on Dec. 18 on the grounds that he was mentally incompetent and had no capacity to take responsibility for his actions at that time.