Media members stand outside Naha District Court in Okinawa on June 2, 2025, following the first trial day for a U.S. Marine accused of attempted sexual assault. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
NAHA, Okinawa — A U.S. Marine accused of strangling and injuring a Japanese woman during an attempted sexual assault appeared in Japanese court Monday and denied the charges against him.
Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, of Ohio, pleaded not guilty in Naha District Court to non-consensual sexual intercourse resulting in injury. A three-judge panel, led by Judge Kazuhiko Obata, presided over the proceedings accompanied by six lay judges, who are comparable to jurors in the American justice system.
Clayton was on Okinawa as a machine gunner with an unspecified unit attached to the 3rd Marine Division under the Unit Deployment Program, a Marine spokesman Capt. Kazuma Engelkemier said by email Monday.
Clayton’s case, along with that of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Brennon Washington, who is appealing a December conviction for sexually assaulting a minor, has fueled public backlash and protests from Okinawa’s government. In response, the U.S. military imposed tighter liberty restrictions on troops in Japan.
Two other U.S. service members stationed on Okinawa have since been indicted on separate sexual assault charges.
Clayton’s trial began at 10 a.m., with prosecutor Shuhei Hisaoka reading the charges aloud. Judge Obata asked the Marine if any part of the statement was untrue. Clayton denied attempting to sexually assault the woman.
“I didn’t strangle her,” he said. “I didn’t cause her any damage or harm.”
According to the indictment, Clayton allegedly choked the woman in the village of Yomitan on May 26, 2024. He is accused of unbuttoning her pants and attempting to sexually assault her. The woman, who resisted the alleged assault, sustained injuries to her eyes and mouth that required two weeks to heal, prosecutors said.
Assistant prosecutor Rihoko Kosaka said during opening remarks that Clayton and the woman, then 25, had not met before the incident. She said the woman, identified only as “A,” had been drinking with her partner and friends on Gate 2 Street in Okinawa City the night before and became separated from them early the following morning.
Kosaka said Clayton approached A at 5:59 a.m., and after a brief interaction, they rode a taxi together to a location near the home of A’s partner in Yomitan. A entered a convenience store to text a friend for help, then walked with Clayton to her partner’s residence. The alleged assault took place in the home’s entranceway while her partner was asleep inside, Kosaka said.
Clayton’s defense attorney, Kotaro Ito, presented a different version of events. He said the two visited a convenience store near Gate 2 Street, then sat in A’s car parked in a lot inside a business complex called Koza Music Town. From there, they took a taxi to Yomitan and stopped at another convenience store so A could use the bathroom, Ito said.
Ito said Clayton and A embraced before Clayton took a taxi to an Airbnb in Onna village.
After a 20-minute recess, prosecutors showed photographs of the Yomitan house, screenshots of text messages and images of blood spots in the woman’s eyes.
Hisaoka said the injuries were consistent with being choked for one to two minutes, citing an expert opinion from Kenji Ninomiya, a researcher at the University of the Ryukyus Graduate School of Medicine.
Video footage from the taxi ride and Clayton’s Airbnb was played for the judges, prosecution and defense. The defense also presented DNA analysis and surveillance footage from the convenience store and Koza Music Town.
Ito told reporters after the hearing that A’s partner, a U.S. citizen under the status of forces agreement that governs American military personnel in Japan, claimed he saw Clayton that morning. He reiterated that Clayton did not previously know him or A.
The woman is scheduled to testify in court Tuesday. Her partner is expected to testify Wednesday.
