LAPD detectives may pick up Miura next week

Detectives from Los Angeles Police Department won’t be here on Saipan until sometime next week to pick up Kazuyoshi Miura and escort him to California, according to Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Warfield Sr. yesterday.

Warfield told Saipan Tribune that after he left the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Monday he called the L.A. District Attorney’s Office and left some messages.

He said he heard from LADA Monday night and spoke with one of the LAPD detectives Tuesday morning Saipan time.

“They won’t be here this week. They are involved in a…cold case murder trial from 1988 which they are trying this week. So they won’t be here until sometime next week at the earliest,” the prosecutor said.

Warfield said he read an article from the Los Angeles Times Tuesday night saying that one detective has already been sent to Saipan.

“The word that was given to me was that they won’t be out here until next week. So there might be somebody en route but nobody told me that somebody is on his way. I was a little bit surprised when I read that,” he said.

Warfield said the 61-year-old Miura will be detained at the Department of Correction until LAPD detectives come and pick him up.

He said he expects LAPD detective Rick Jackson to come back but that’s not guaranteed.

Warfield explained that the LAPD’s trip need not be coordinated with him or with the Attorney General’s Office.

“The only thing that has to happen is somebody from LA comes in, shows us that they’re from the Los Angeles Police Department, they go to DOC, the DOC is satisfied with their credentials, DOC releases [Miura],” he said.

Warfield believes that LAPD will let them know they are coming out of courtesy, but they are not required to do so.

The prosecutor is aware that many Japanese journalists have been camping out at the Saipan airport since Monday, waiting for the arrival of the LAPD detectives.

“Go to the hotels… there’s no point of staying there,” Warfield advised the journalists.

He said if there are any new updates, he would notify press secretary Charles Reyes Jr. to draft a press release or call for a press conference. “Like if we find out they will be here Friday. Then we will hold a press conference and say it’s going to be on Friday.”

During Monday’s hearing in federal court, Miura, through lawyer Bruce Berline, withdrew his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The motion was granted.

Miura is facing charges in California over the killing of his wife in 1981. A California court dismissed the murder charge, but allowed the prosecution to proceed with the conspiracy to commit murder charge.