Judge: Miura Not Needed in L.A. for Hearings
By NAO GUNJI
RAFU ENGLISH ASSISTANT EDITOR
Saturday, May 10, 2008

Judge Sicklen says it’s not practical to extradite the Japanese businessman to discuss legal arguments.

Associated Press

A Los Angeles Superior court judge on Friday agreed with the defense that a Japanese business man, who’s charged with the 1981 murder of his wife, need  not be present in Los Angeles to discuss double jeopardy.

Although he sided with District Attorney Alan Jackson that the merits (factual details) of the case should have already been submitted by the defense to argue double jeopardy, Judge Steven Van Sicklen said that it “does not make sense” to extradite Kazuyoshi Miura, who has been detained in Saipan since his arrest on Feb. 22, to Los Angeles while the court discusses legal issues surrounding the case.

“I don’t want to deal with this issue anymore,” the judge commented on the extradition during the hearing. 

Sicklen suggested Miura’s attorney Mark Geragos set up a video conference with the defendant so that he can make a waiver plea to the court for himself in a future hearing. The waiver would enable Geragos to continue attending hearings without the defendant.  

Friday’s hearing was a huge victory for the defense. In spite of the prosecutor’s argument that the court needs to obtain physical jurisdiction over the defendant first and then discuss double jeopardy, the judge sided with Geragos that California Penal Code section 793, which promises immunity for a person from being tried again in California if already convicted or acquitted in a different state, should not be overlooked. 

During a press briefing after the hearing, the high profile attorney said, “we couldn’t be happier,” although he is disappointed that his client has to remain detained for another five weeks until the next hearing, which is now scheduled June 16.

“But I’m confident in five weeks I’ll be back I front of you and he will be a free man,” Geragos told the media.

Sandi Gibbons, DA’s public information officer said Friday’s tentative ruling is not a setback or disappointment.

“We feel very strongly about the circumstances, but it’s very hard to predict what a judge is going to do,” Gibbons said. “(Sicklen) wants to get to the heart of the matter and the heart of the matter is whether this is a case of double jeopardy, and that’s the issue he wants to hear.” 

Kazumi Miura, the defendant’s 28-year-old wife, was shot in the head on Nov. 18, 1981 on Fremont Avenue near the Los Angeles Civic Center while visiting the city with her husband, who injured his leg during the shooting. The wife was taken back to Japan after the shooting and died there in 1982 without ever regaining consciousness.

The arrest warrant alleges that Miura “gave a hand signal to an unknown person to shoot Kazumi Miura in the head.” The warrant also alleges the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait, which could make him eligible for the death penalty.

Along with the murder, he was charged in 1985 by Japanese authorities with the attempted murder of his wife at what was then known as the New Otani Hotel and Garden in Little Tokyo three months before the shooting.

Sicklen will issue a formal ruling on the hearing on Monday.