SURPRISE AT OKINAWA RAPE TRIAL

Roderico Harp, one of three American servicemen accused of raping a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, told a packed Japanese courtroom that U.S. military investigators coerced him into confessing to the crime. Harp, a 21-year-old Marine, testified at the Naha District Court that investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Services woke him at four in the morning two days after the incident. Harp said he told the investigators what happened, but they asked him to "go in another direction" and say what the "Japanese would like to hear." When the trial opened November 7, Harp and another Marine, Kendrick Ledet, acknowledged that they had helped plan and carry out the rape. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill pleaded guilty to raping the girl. Today, Harp's wife, Denitrease, asked the court to forgive her husband and apologized to the girl, her family, the people of Japan and the United States. The men could face life sentences, although lighter punishment is expected.