The Yokohama District Court on Monday sentenced a 30-year-old Japanese man to death for killing 19 residents and injuring 26 others at a care home for people with mental disabilities in 2016.

Satoshi Uematsu, formerly employed by the care facility, had admitted to the killings in hearings during his lay judge trial. He insisted that people with disabilities who are unable to communicate their thoughts do not have human rights. The defense argued ironically that Uematsu was mentally incompetent due to his use of marijuana, which allegedly triggered his mental disorder and the attack, and should not be held criminally responsible for his actions.

Uematsu turned himself in to police after the assault, carrying bloodied knives, but has shown no remorse for the attack. “I had to do it for the sake of society,” he said. Uematsu told the court last month he would not appeal the ruling, no matter the outcome.

Sentencing Uematsu to death by hanging, presiding Judge Kiyoshi Aonuma cited the violence of the crime, calling it premeditated.