Los Angeles City Jail Holds Extradited Murder Suspect Kazuyoshi Miura

Los Angeles:  This morning, less than an hour after landing at Los Angeles International Airport on a trans-Pacific flight, 61-year-old murder suspect Kazuyoshi Miura was booked into the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Metropolitan Jail at Parker Center.

On Oct. 6, 2008, LAPD Detectives Rick Jackson and Rich Bengston traveled to Saipan to begin Miura’s extradition.  Today marks the first time Miura has been in the United States since he was charged with the murder of his wife, Kazumi Miura, in 1981.  When his aircraft pulled to the gate this morning, detectives and their prisoner bypassed the terminal, boarded a waiting police vehicle on the tarmac and immediately drove to Parker Center.

Miura, arriving at Parker Center before 6 a.m., was booked without delay.  Detective Jackson confirmed that his booking created the first United States-based criminal record for Miura; and   according to Detective Bengston, Miura was photographed, fingerprinted and assigned a jail cell in accordance with a standard booking process.

“Kazumi Miura was a beautiful person whose life ended way too soon,” said Detective Jackson.   “And we carry the torch for the victims in this case and others like it.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008, Miura is schedule to be transferred from the Parker Center Jail to his first court appearance at the Los Angeles County Criminal Courts Building.  Following a foreign conviction for murder, which was later overturned, a state court decision precludes another trial for murder.  However, that decision has been appealed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and even if the murder charge is not reinstated, Miura faces 25 years to life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.  The potential sentence for conspiracy is the same as for a murder conviction.