Miura can't understand arrest by U.S. police after his acquittal in Japan

February 24, 2008

SAIPAN — Kazuyoshi Miura, a Japanese businessman who has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife in Los Angeles 27 years ago, expressed his dismay at his unexpected detention Saturday in Saipan when he met a Japanese Consulate official Sunday, the diplomat said.

While the Los Angeles Police Department is preparing to transfer Miura to California soon, Miura plans to announce on Monday morning through his lawyer what action he plans to take, Japanese Consul in Saipan Kenji Yazawa said.

"I don't understand why I had to be arrested when my acquittal has been finalized in Japan," Miura was quoted by Yazawa as telling him when they met at a U.S. detention facility.

In 2003, the Japanese Supreme Court acquitted Miura of the fatal shooting of his wife Kazumi in Los Angeles in 1981.

According to Yazawa, Miura seemed to be baffled by his detention, saying, "I have been to Saipan before. Why now?...I want to see my family no matter what happens."

Meanwhile, the LAPD is making arrangements to transfer Miura to Los Angeles from Saipan, a commonwealth territory of the United States, sources with U.S. authorities said.

Miura was taken into custody Friday at Saipan airport when he showed his passport at immigration prior to leaving for Narita airport near Tokyo.

It remains to be seen whether U.S. authorities put Miura on trial, but according to Japanese investigative authorities in Tokyo, U.S. investigators told them the arrest was made on the basis of "fresh evidence."

Miura was at the center of heavy media coverage throughout the 1980s after Kazumi was shot in the head in November 1981 and died about a year later. Miura himself also sustained serious injuries when Kazumi was shot.

In 1985, Japanese police arrested Miura, along with a former actress, on suspicion of attempted murder for insurance money in connection with an earlier assault on his wife in August of 1981.

In 1988, Miura and another man were arrested over her death in the November incident.

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Miura in 1994 to life in prison for murder, ruling that the actual perpetrator of the shooting was a third unidentified person.

But the Tokyo High Court acquitted him of murder four years later, saying no light was shed in court about his alleged conspiracy with an accomplice as well as about the perpetrator of the shooting. That high court decision was allowed to stand by the Supreme Court in 2003.

In 1998, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal against a sentence of six years in prison imposed for attempted murder in the earlier assault case. Miura was released in January 2001.

While he was fighting his cases in court, he lodged several hundred libel suits seeking damages from newspaper publishers, news agencies, TV broadcasters and magazine publishers. He won many of those suits.


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