Warfield: We’re done

“We’re done!” Thus stated assistant attorney general Jeffery L. Warfield Sr. shortly after Superior Court associate judge Ramona V. Manglona on Friday denied Kazuyoshi Miura’s petition for habeas corpus and ordered his extradition to Los Angeles, California.

In an interview with Saipan Tribune after Friday’s hearing, Warfield said once Miura leaves Saipan it becomes the Japanese businessman’s issue of guilt or innocence.

“And again we have absolutely nothing to do that. And that’s the thing we’ve tried to say over and over again. We are not here to decide whether he killed his wife or not. It’s not what we do,” he said.

Warfield stressed that the only responsibility of the CNMI government, through the Attorney General’s Office, is to send the 61-year-old Miura to California because he is wanted there.

After Manglona rendered her oral decision on Friday, the prosecutor immediately contacted the L.A. District Attorney’s Office to inform them about the ruling.

“If California sends its agents out here. They get out quickly. Yes, he (Miura) could be extradited,” Warfield said.

Meanwhile, following Manglona’s decision more members of the Japanese media started arriving on the island over the weekend. Anticipating that Miura may be taken out from his detention cell anytime due to the court decision, some Japanese journalists camped out in front of the Department of Corrections in Susupe while others posted at the Saipan airport Friday night to Sunday early morning.

Press Secretary Charles Reyes Jr. said yesterday that the AGO will hold a media briefing today, Monday, at the CNMI courthouse at 11am. He said the briefing is primarily intended for the Japanese media, but that local reporters are also invited to join.

After announcing her decision on Friday, Judge Manglona stated that Miura has the right to appeal.

Miura’s lawyers filed that afternoon an emergency motion for a stay of extradition and removal before the CNMI Supreme Court, pending their appeal. The high court has not acted on the motion yet.

Miura is facing murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges in L.A. in connection with the killing of his wife in 1981. The L.A. court is expected to issue a ruling in his motions to quash the warrant and dismiss the case by Sept. 26, 2008.

Miura has been fighting his extradition case since he was arrested at the Saipan airport last February.