Miura throws in the towel

After fighting his extradition to California for more than seven months, Kazuyoshi Miura threw in the towel yesterday, vowing to continue his fight in Los Angeles.

“California is now free to come and escort him,” Bruce Berline, one of Miura’s lawyers, told the mostly Japanese media during what he described as their farewell press conference.

Shortly before the news briefing, Berline told the U.S. District Court for the NMI that they want to withdraw Miura’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Warfield Sr. did not object to the request.

Chief Judge Alex R. Munson granted the motion and lifted his order for a stay of Superior Court associate judge Ramona V. Manglona’s extradition order.

Munson remanded the 61-year-old Miura back to the custody of the U.S. Marshal so the Japanese businessman could be delivered back to CNMI authorities.

The hearing, which was attended by many members of the Japanese media, lasted less than two minutes.

Miura was wearing a maroon shirt and a pair of maroon pants. He was smiling as he shook hands with his lawyers, Berline and Mark Hanson. His third counsel, William Fitzgerald, was not in court.

“Our case is now officially over in Saipan, CNMI with the dismissal of the habeas corpus,” Berline said.

On Saturday, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Steven Sicklen ruled that Miura cannot be tried for murder in the 1981 shooting of his wife. He told prosecutors, though, that they can continue with the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Berline said he met with Miura yesterday morning and explained to him the court ruling in California. Berline said he explained what Miura’s options are in going forward with his extradition case on Saipan.

The lawyer said Miura told him that it was time for him to go to California where he will continue his legal fight.

“And I agree with that,” Berline said, adding that they certainly could have continued the fight in the CNMI but, given Van Sicklen’s opinion, “it is time to take the fight to California.”

The lawyer said it was their client who decided it is time for him to go to California.

“I think that he just understands that his time is best spent in California now,” Berline added.

Warfield told Saipan Tribune after yesterday’s hearing that it’s not over until Miura is actually on a plane and is on his way to California.

With the dismissal of the petition for habeas corpus, however, Warfield said there are no more impediments to Miura being extradited.

“The governor’s warrant has been upheld. They withdrew their petition for writ and emergency stay. So as soon as California authorities can work it out, he [Miura] will be transported,” the government lawyer said.

On the sudden withdrawal of Miura’s petition, Warfield said this did not surprise him given what happened in L.A. over the weekend.

“It pretty much took the arguments that they were making last week before our Supreme Court. The California court upheld the conspiracy charge so it is clear that he has been substantially charge, which we believe is already clear,” he said.

The prosecutor said he will immediately call the L.A. District Attorney’s Office about the dismissal of the petition, and that LADA in turn will notify the Los Angeles Police Department.

Warfield said he has no information as to when the LAPD detectives will return to Saipan to pick up Miura because it was a Sunday yesterday in California.

Miura was arrested at the airport on Saipan last Feb. 22 over the killing of his wife in L.A. in 1981. Since then he has been fighting his extradition to California. After losing in the CNMI Superior and Supreme courts, he brought the legal fight last Friday to the U.S. District Court for the NMI.