A judge in the Niigata District Court repeatedly fell asleep at the lay judge trial held on the 7th of this month, and it was found that the court had apologized to the people concerned.
According to the Niigata District Court, it was pointed out from the outside that one of the three judges had repeatedly fallen asleep in the lay judge trial of the Stimulant Drug Control Law violation case held on the 7th of this month.
When the court confirmed with the judge himself, he admitted that he had fallen asleep and explained that he had lost consciousness several times during the trial because he could not sleep well the night before.
In response to this, judges apologized to judges, prosecutors, and lawyers before the trial on the following day, and the start of the trial was delayed by about 30 minutes due to this effect.
Koji Kobayashi, director of the Niigata District Court, commented, "I regret to say that I would like to make sure that this does not happen in the future."