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Motion: California can’t extradite Miura
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Posted on Aug 22 2008
The Governor’s warrant on which Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura is being held is illegal, and the state of California has no right to extradite Miura, lawyer Mark B. Hanson wrote in a motion of habeas corpus filed in the CNMI Superior Court Friday.
The Court Clerk’s Office stayed open an additional 30 minutes so Bruce Berline could file the motion. Hanson, Berline and William M. Fitzgerald represent Miura on Saipan. Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos represents Miura in California.
The State of California is seeking Miura’s extradition on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killing of his wife in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1981. He was convicted for the crime but later acquitted by Japan’s High Court. Miura was arrested at Saipan International Airport in February and has been in jail since.
In the motion, Hanson said Miura does not stand charged with a crime in California, so there is no reason for his continued detention on Saipan.
The acts detailed in the California arrest warrant were the same as the acts for which Miura was convicted and subsequently acquitted for in Japan, the motion states.
But if the court does find that the acts he has been charged with are different, the nearly 20-year delay in seeking his extradition does not follow due process, Hanson wrote in the motion.
“In either case, the State of California has no right to request Mr. Miura’s rendition from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” the motion states.
