Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Warfield Sr. said the prosecution will insist that Kazuyoshi Miura, 61, be extradited to Los Angeles before his motion to invalidate his warrant of arrest is heard in the city’s Superior Court on Sept. 26.
Manglona rejected yesterday the defense’s request to move the Sept. 12 habeas corpus hearing here after Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen’s Sept. 26 hearing.
“If she denies the petition (for habeas corpus) on Friday, Mr. Miura can be extradited at any time. We have nothing to do with the motion in L.A.,” Warfield said in a phone interview.
Warfield and Assistant Attorney General Mike Nisperos believe Miura will soon be extradited.
“I expect the judge to rule on the bench on Friday. He (Miura) has been given every opportunity to defend himself” said Warfield.
Miura has been detained at Saipan’s jail for nearly seven months now since his arrest at the island’s international airport moments before he was to board a plane to Japan.
The L.A. Police Department asked local immigration authorities to hold Miura based on a 1988 warrant of arrest that was issued over the death of his wife in the city in 1981.
Japan acquitted Miura of murder in 1998.
His lead counsel in California, Mark Geragos, argued that his client would be subjected to double jeopardy if tried for the same offense in the state.
The L.A. prosecutors, however, insist Miura could still be tried for conspiracy to commit murder.
William Fitzgerald, one of Miura’s three defense counsels on Saipan, said their client’s fate is now in the hands of the L.A. judge.
Van Sicklen is scheduled to rule on Miura’s motion to invalidate his warrant of arrest on Sept. 26.
His lawyers said Miura can only be released from the CNMI Department of Corrections through a judicial order.
The defense team visited Miura last Saturday and described him as “happy” and hopeful.
