The CNMI Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the Superior Court\u2019s decision that ordered the extradition of Kazuyoshi Miura to California where he is facing murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges over the killing of his wife in 1981.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan, Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro, and Justice Pro Tem Jesus C. Borja ruled that Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona\u2019s decision denying Miura\u2019s request for a writ of habeas corpus is affirmed.<\/p>\n
In a one-page order issued last night, the justices lifted the CNMI Supreme Court\u2019s Sept. 15, 2008, order staying Miura\u2019s extradition. They did not explain their decision, saying their reasoning in affirming the trial court\u2019s decision will follow in a full opinion.<\/p>\n
After listening for over an hour to the arguments yesterday afternoon, Demapan had announced that they are placing the matter under advisement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the arguments. We will do our very best to expedite the resolution of the case,\u201d Demapan had said.<\/p>\n
That meant the justices will deliberate on the case and will soon issue a ruling.<\/p>\n
As this developed, one of Miura\u2019s lawyers, William Fitzgerald, disclosed that if the CNMI High Court denies their appeal, they are going to file a petition for habeas corpus before the U.S. District Court for the NMI.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald said, however, that they don\u2019t know whether the justices will issue a ruling after one day or one week.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder advisement is kind of open-ended,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In an interview after the hearing, Fitzgerald said their main argument is that this is a very unique case that requires a very unique solution. \u201cI think the justices will take that very seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said if the CNMI Supreme Court denies their appeal, they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and also file their petition for habeas corpus before the U.S. District Court for the NMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe justices are very good. So I am confident. I think they will consider all the arguments and come out with the right solution,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n
Warfield told the media that everything went well at the hearing and that he thinks the justices were receptive to the CNMI government\u2019s arguments. <\/p>\n
As to allegations by Miura\u2019s lawyers that the Los Angeles Police Department tried to snatch Miura while his appeal is pending before the CNMI High Court, Warfield said that is not what happened.<\/p>\n
He said a suggestion by Miura\u2019s lawyers that California was somehow engaged in some clandestine activity to sneak him out before his appeal could be heard \u201cquite frankly didn\u2019t occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warfield said when the LAPD detectives found out that Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona Manglona had denied the habeas petition last Sept. 12, they immediately made arrangement to fly here to Saipan as quickly as they could. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey got here on Monday [Sept. 15]. When they arrived, they found out about the stay and they turned around and left. They didn\u2019t make any inquiries about trying to get him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the hearing, associate justice Alexandro Castro asked Miura\u2019s lawyers for particulars on what errors Judge Manglona made in denying the petition.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald explained that Judge Manglona wasn\u2019t able to take all the facts into consideration.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald said they feel that the District Attorney\u2019s Office in L.A. has not been candid with the CNMI court. \u201cThe trial court was not fully aware of what\u2019s going in California,\u201d he said. \u201cHad she understood the facts of what was going on in California, she would have decided differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald said their point is that the CNMI trial court should not decide an issue that the California Superior Court is about to rule on by Sept. 26.<\/p>\n
Citing a precedent case, Fitzgerald emphasized that this is very unique situation and a \u201ccase of first impression\u201d because California itself is unsure whether it is actually precluded from even prosecuting Miura because of the applicability of California\u2019s statute, which grants him immunity from any further prosecution.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald also read a transcript of the California court proceedings where the judge stated that bringing Miura to L.A. at this time is just a waste of money.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald pointed out that the warrant against Miura is in \u201cvery serious question.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to what harm will cause Miura if he is extradited to California, the lawyer said their client is here and that he wants the protection of CNMI laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is entitled to due process,\u201d Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n
In the government\u2019s argument, Warfield said Manglona was right when she pointed out that extradition is a summary and mandatory proceeding.<\/p>\n
Warfield said any ruling by the California court is irrelevant because extradition is a summary and mandatory proceeding.<\/p>\n
He said the case has been delayed in the CNMI courts for five months now.<\/p>\n
But Borja intervened that if Miura loses in this appeal, the next thing he would probably do is go to the federal court where he is not prevented from filing a petition for habeas corpus.<\/p>\n
Demapan also stated that if LAPD detectives were able to get Miura out before the high court could order a stay, then Miura\u2019s appeal would then be moot.<\/p>\n
Warfield explained that there was no clandestine activity to sneak out Miura.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [LAPD] simply got here quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The CNMI Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the Superior Court\u2019s decision that ordered the extradition of Kazuyoshi Miura to California where he is facing murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges over the killing of his wife in 1981.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}