Manglona denied Miura’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered the government to extradite him to Los Angeles where he is facing murder-related charges.
Miura appeared shocked by the ruling.
His defense team immediately filed in the CNMI Supreme Court an emergency appeal to stay the execution of the extradition.
William Fitzgerald, one of Miura’s three legal counsels here, said they expect to hear from the Supreme Court today.
Only one of the three justices is needed to approve the emergency appeal to freeze Manglona’s extradition order and allow Miura to stay here beyond Sept. 26 — the date when his motion to invalidate his warrant of arrest in Los Angeles Superior Court will be heard.
“The Supreme Court could issue a stay. And in that case, they [LAPD agents] cannot come and take him [Miura] back. Or the District Attorney’s Office could receive an order from California saying, ‘Don’t go and bring him back until [there’s a decision in California].’ It’s common sense, if the judge in California is going to make his decision in two weeks, why should California spend tens of thousands of dollars to send policemen 8,000 miles across the ocean if as soon as he gets back there they are going to have a decision,” Fitzgerald said in an interview on Saturday.
Bruce Berline, Miura’s lead counsel here, said the local and LA prosecutors are not required to inform them when their client would be extradited.
Words quickly spread that Miura could be taken out of Saipan this weekend causing “panic” among the visiting Japanese media covering the nearly seven-month long case.
But Fitzgerald allayed their fears saying it would take some time before the LAPD agents arrive on Saipan.
“I don’t think they [LAPD] have a rocket ship to get him out of here to California…. I believe it’s the police from Los Angeles who will come here so it’s going to take them some time to get here,” he said.
Different Japanese TV networks have positioned their crew in every nook and corner where Miura could possibly exit the Department of Corrections facility and at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport to get a rare footage or pictures of his actual journey back to L.A.
The prosecution is expected to hold a news briefing today on how the Japanese media can go about their coverage without hampering the LAPD’s mission to extradite Miura.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the law enforcement authorities want the Japanese journalists to understand that under U.S. law they can be arrested if they get into the way of the LAPD agents who will escort Miura out of the island.
Tense hearing
Tension was high on Friday as Judge Manglona presided over what would be Miura’s last court appearance here.
Before the proceeding started, Miura asked for a cup of water and drank it with his both hands which were handcuffed. The judge reminded everyone to stay calm if the power was cut as the court had a backup generator.
Asst. Attorney General Jeffery Warfield Sr. took the time to note the typographical errors on his 10-page opposition to the defense’s habeas corpus motion.
Fitzgerald who spoke on behalf of the defense urged the judge to postpone her order on the motion in consideration of the Sept. 26 hearing in California.
“This is a very unique situation. Are we going to send him off to California when in two weeks a decision will be rendered? Why rush to judgment at this point?” he said.
But Warfield countered there’s no reason why the court should wait for the LA decision because it’s a different issue.
“There is no ground for this court to take a wait and see approach,” said Warfield. “Let’s wait and see…that’s what’s been said since March. Your honor should rule on this and let’s move on.”
Miura challenged Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s warrant of arrest against him claiming there was a judicial error made because he was already acquitted of the crime in Japan and that California waived its right to prosecute him.
But Manglona reiterated that the CNMI court has no jurisdiction to discuss Miura’s double jeopardy argument nor of his claim that he wasn’t aware that he was charged with murder in 1988 in California.
Warfield said they already asked the LA prosecutors to facilitate Miura’s extradition.
Miura was arrested at Saipan’s international airport on Feb. 22 as he was about to return to Tokyo.
The LAPD requested his detention on suspicion that he plotted the 1981 attack against his wife in Los Angeles that later caused her death and enriched him in hundreds of dollars worth of life insurance payouts.
