Bruce Berline, Miura’s lead counsel on Saipan, said his client used Yahoo! Messenger for his first court appearance in LA 27 years after his wife was fatally shot there.
“No,” said Berline when asked if they used the Internet portal system Skype for Miura’s televideo appearance in LA Judge Steven Van Sicklen’s chamber. “It was actually Yahoo!”
A local judge here gave Miura permission to be escorted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern Marianas for his future court appearances in connection with his motion in LA.
But LA’s schedule to hear Miura’s case always falls on a Friday — which is Saturday morning here.
Miura has been detained on Saipan for almost six months now, pending his extradition to California where he is to face murder-related charges.
Neither the local court nor the jail here has high-tech equipment to facilitate a two-way televideo appearance.
The defense asked at least one major Japanese broadcasting station to lend its satellite facility for Miura’s court appearance in LA, but the request was turned down.
Yahoo! came to the rescue.
“Miura’s face was shown in a big screen in the LA courtroom but he could not see those who attended the hearing. He could, however, hear what’s going on through a cell phone where the court’s Japanese translator explained things to him,” said Berline.
Miura said his name and listened throughout the court hearing which is expected to be continued anytime soon.
Miura’s blog about his frequent visits to Saipan, a popular resort island for Japanese tourists about 1,500 miles south of Tokyo, tipped off LAPD.
He has been wanted in California since 1988 when the murder-related charges against him were filed in connection with the 1981 shooting incident.
The 61-year-old former businessman was acquitted of killing his wife in 2003 in Japan and was reportedly told to stay away from any U.S. jurisdiction but apparently didn’t take the precaution seriously.
