Bruce Berline, Miura’s lead counsel on Saipan, said their client’s family is requesting the L.A. Police Department to preserve all the evidence in the apparent suicide case.
“He was on Saipan for over seven months and less than a day in L.A.’s custody and something like this happened,” said Berline in a press conference held yesterday afternoon.
Berline is leaving for Los Angeles and is scheduled to meet with Mark Geragos, Miura’s lead counsel in California.
“I’m certainly not ready to conclude that he committed suicide. There may be other circumstances. Suicide makes no sense,” Berline said.
The LAPD said full investigation will be conducted by its force investigation division subject to the review of the chief of police, the inspector general and the Los Angeles Police Commission.
“The county coroner’s office will also conduct an investigation as to the cause of death and the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney will have access to all investigations relative to this incident,” the LAPD said in a statement.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and the CNMI prosecution team that handled Miura’s extradition case here expressed sadness over the turn of events.
“Mr. Miura’s suicide is a completely unexpected development in a decades-long case that has fascinated not only the Japanese public but many observers in the U.S. and around the world,” the governor said in a statement.
It was the governor who signed Miura’s warrant of arrest upon the request of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Like many people in Japan, many of us here in the CNMI had expected a full trial to determine Mr. Miura’s guilt or innocence and put a proper and fitting end to the case,” Fitial said.
Death by hanging
According to the LAPD, “on Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 at approximately 9:45 p.m., medical assistance was summoned for Miura. It was apparent that the murder suspect, alone in his cell, had used a piece of his shirt as a makeshift ligature around his neck.”
A detention officer who saw what Miura had done summoned help and tried to resuscitate him but the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center pronounced him dead.
The 61-year-old Miura, dubbed as the “Japanese O.J. Simpson,” was supposed to be arraigned on Tuesday.
He was to stand trial on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the unsolved 1981 attack on his then-28-year-old wife whose death enriched him by about $1.4 million in insurance claims.
Japan acquitted Miura in 1998 of killing his wife.
No indications
Four LAPD detectives escorted Miura out of Saipan early Friday morning.
Charlie Beck, the LAPD chief of detectives, said there were no indications that Miura was suicidal.
LAPD Detectives Rick Jackson, Rich Bengston, Tim Marcia and Eri Poss traveled to Saipan on Oct. 6 and left with Miura at around 4:40 a.m. on the 10th aboard a Continental Airlines plane.
Miura was booked without delay upon his arrival at the Los Angeles Department Metropolitan Jail at Parker Center.
“He was photographed, fingerprinted and as a high profile murder suspect, housed alone in a cell,” the LAPD said in a statement.
The LAPD said it immediately notified the Consulate General of Japan and Consul Masaru Dekiba, about Miura’s apparent suicide. It was the diplomat who informed Miura’s family about the incident.
Miura was taken to the Saipan International Airport at around 2 a.m. Friday with a convoy of police vehicles.
Hordes of Japanese journalists followed the convoy.
Miura was the last passenger to board the Continental Airlines plane bound first to Guam, then to Honolulu, en route to LA.
Assistant Chief Prosecutor Jeffery Warfield Sr. said Miura cooperated with the authorities throughout the process but didn’t talk much.
