Despite an immediate request by Japanese law enforcement for custody and eventual trial, the men were only transferred on September 29, after the Japanese had formally indicted them. Although false rumors spread that the suspects were free to roam the base and had been seen eating hamburgers, the suspects were in fact held in a military brig until the Japanese officials charged them with the crime. initially took the men into custody, on September 6. While the crime was committed away from a U.S. service members a certain measure of extraterritoriality (exemption from jurisdiction of local law) only as it relates to the place the suspects were detained. Īfter the incident became known, public outrage began, especially over the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement, which gives the U.S. A US military public-affairs officer, speaking from the US military's Japan headquarters at Yokota, says he cannot disclose the suspects' races out of respect for their privacy.

News executives were concerned that public anger over the rape would be further inflamed and take on racist overtones if the race of the suspects were widely publicized. Photographs of the suspects' faces have been virtually absent from Japan's media. The incident led to further debate over the continued presence of U.S.

The families of the defendants initially claimed that Japanese officials had racially discriminated against the men because they were all African American and coerced confessions from them, but later retracted the claims. The offenders were tried and convicted in Japanese court by Japanese law, in accordance with the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement.

Gill and Harp then raped her, while Ledet claimed he only pretended to do so due to fear of Gill. They beat her, duct-taped her eyes and mouth shut, and bound her hands. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet, all serving at Camp Hansen on Okinawa, rented a van and kidnapped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. The 1995 Okinawa rape incident ( Japanese: 沖縄米兵少女暴行事件) occurred on September 4, 1995, when three U.S.

Us marine navy seal war crimes