Airman convicted of rape in Japan

? A court convicted a U.S. airman today of raping a Japanese woman and sentenced him to 32 months, concluding a case that deepened resentment toward American troops stationed in Okinawa.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland went on trial last September after being charged with raping the 20-year-old woman in a parking lot outside a popular Okinawa nightclub on June 29.

The airman pleaded innocent to the allegations, saying that he had consensual sex with the woman. Rape convictions in Japan typically carry prison sentences of two to 15 years in prison.

“As far as the defense team is concerned, we are shocked because we were totally expecting a not guilty verdict,” said attorney Annette M. Eddie-Callagain. She said the defense is advising Woodland to appeal the verdict.

Woodland will serve the sentence in a Japanese prison near Tokyo.

The incident stoked smoldering resentment in a part of Japan where tens of thousands of U.S. troops are based and where residents are highly sensitive to military-related crimes.

The rape of a local schoolgirl by three American servicemen in 1995 sparked huge protests.

Though the reaction to the Woodland case was not nearly as intense, it attracted intense media coverage and raised pressure on the Japanese government to revise an agreement with Washington that lets U.S. authorities hold military personnel suspected of crimes until they are formally charged.