Prison term upheld for U.S. airman over sexual assault of minor in Okinawa

A Japanese high court on Wednesday upheld a ruling convicting a U.S. Air Force serviceman in Okinawa Prefecture of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 16 in 2023 and sentencing him to five years in prison.The Fukuoka High Court's Naha branch rejected an appeal by the defendant, Brennon Washington, a 26-year-old airman stationed at Kadena Air Base, who maintained he was not guilty.Washington's defense counsel argued that the lower court ruling failed to judge the trustworthiness of the girl's testimony, which not only changed but contradicted her mother's report of the…READ FULL ARTICLE