Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton trains at Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, in March 2024. (Matthew Morales/U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A U.S. Marine convicted of strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman at her Okinawa home in May 2024 will forgo a final appeal and serve the remainder of his seven-year sentence in a Japanese prison.
Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 23, of Ohio, declined through his attorney Kotaro Ito to appeal his conviction and sentence to Japan’s Supreme Court, a spokeswoman for the Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court said by phone Friday.
The court accepted the decision on Wednesday, the clerk said. She did not know the reason for Clayton’s decision.
Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
A three-judge panel accompanied by six lay judges in Naha District Court convicted Clayton on June 24 of nonconsensual sexual intercourse resulting in injury. A separate three-judge panel upheld the verdict in the Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court on March 5.
Ito could not be reached by phone Friday.
The Supreme Court is the final venue for appeals in Japan’s three-tier court system.
The district court ruling cited the woman’s testimony.
She testified June 3 that Clayton followed her into a taxi from Gate 2 Street to Yomitan village. He then choked her to unconsciousness several times, unsuccessfully attempted to unzip her pants and masturbated behind her in the entryway of the home she shared with her then-boyfriend, a U.S. airman, according to her testimony.
Clayton testified June 5 that he was invited to share the taxi and to enter the home.
Clayton’s case, and that of Senior Airman Brennon Washington, convicted in December 2024 of sexually assaulting a minor, fueled public backlash and protests from Okinawa’s government. In response, the U.S. military imposed tighter liberty restrictions for troops in Japan.
The Supreme Court dismissed Washington’s final appeal on Jan. 30.
Two other U.S. service members stationed on Okinawa have also been indicted on separate sexual assault charges.
