Kazuyoshi Miura (businessman)
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
businessman
, who was accused of being involved in the killing of his wife, Kazumi Miura. The prolonged legal battle lasting decades ended when he presumably committed suicide in October 2008.
in 1947. After dropping out of a high school in Yokohama, he was arrested for arson
and served some years in a juvenile prison. He was suspected of the 1979 killing of his former lover Chizuko Shiraishi.
, was suspected of conspiring to kill his wife, on November 18, 1981, while visiting Los Angeles
, California
, United States
. On that day an unknown assailant shot Miura in the right leg and his wife in the head while the two were in a Downtown Los Angeles
parking lot. After the shooting, Kazumi Miura remained in a coma. She was flown back to Japan via a US Air Force
hospital jet. She was blind, paralyzed, unconscious and subsisting on life-support machinery. She died almost a year to the day after the shooting. Kazumi Miura was the mother of a 13-month-old child.
Miura said that street robbers killed his wife, and, while in the hospital, campaigned against violence in Los Angeles. Miura said that he would write letters to President
Ronald Reagan
and California governor
Jerry Brown
and ask the two to secure Los Angeles. The incident reinforced Japanese stereotype
s about U.S. violence.
policy on his wife worth the equivalent of US$1.4 million. In addition, an actress, who said she was Miura's lover, said that Miura asked her to kill his wife. Daryl Gates
, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
during the Miura incident, said that the department and Japanese police suspected Miura had arranged to have his wife killed. However, the shooter was never found and there were no physical evidences linking Miura to the murder.
According to then Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner
, LAPD homicide detectives did not believe that Miura was the perpetrator, but rather that the events had been a "vicious...street crime". However one officer, Jimmy Sakoda, head of the Asian Crimes Squad, did not share the homicide detectives' conclusions. He took his concerns to Reiner who then began working with Japanese prosecutors. Reiner has stated that were it not for Sakoda's persistence the case might have been relegated to the unsolved, or cold case files.
Miura was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment
in Japan
in 1994, upon which he promptly appealed to Tokyo High Court
. After four years of deliberation, Tokyo High Court
overturned the conviction and the resulting sentence, because they were not able to identify the sniper and thus could not prove conspiracy. In 2003, the Supreme Court
also acquitted him of the charge, saying "high court's judgment that there is reasonable doubt that he conspired with an unidentified person to kill his late wife is reasonable." Miura served 13 years in Japanese prisons; six years for assaulting his wife in 1985 and seven more for his vacated 1988 murder conviction. In 2007, he also faced a shoplifting
charge.
Under a 2004 California law, if convicted, the time already served would be credited against any potential sentence.
in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
, where he was arrested on February 22, 2008. In Saipan he began fighting extradition to California
and hired lawyers both on Saipan and in Los Angeles.
A former Federal prosecutor noted that the 27 years since the crime could help Miura's defense. "Witness memories don't get better with time," she said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune
. Los Angeles prosecutors announced that they identified the actual sniper, though there is no move by the prosecutors to arrest the deadly sniper.
The legal battle to avoid getting extradited to California, which has the death penalty, continued for months, until late September, when the Los Angeles Superior Court dropped the murder charges, due to prohibition of double jeopardy, but found conspiracy charges, which do not have capital punishment, valid. Miura gave up the fight to extradition and was transported to Los Angeles, California, arriving in the early morning of October 10, 2008, That night, according to an announcement by the police, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell. L.A. County coroner has not determined a cause of death as of October 21, 2008.
According to a report by an independent pathologist hired by the defense attorney, the evidence shows Miura was murdered in LA jail cell rather than committed suicide.
entitled "Gaijin
", dealt with many of the aspects of the case. His case was compared to that of O. J. Simpson
.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
businessman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
, who was accused of being involved in the killing of his wife, Kazumi Miura. The prolonged legal battle lasting decades ended when he presumably committed suicide in October 2008.
Early life
Miura was born in Yamanashi PrefectureYamanashi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...
in 1947. After dropping out of a high school in Yokohama, he was arrested for arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
and served some years in a juvenile prison. He was suspected of the 1979 killing of his former lover Chizuko Shiraishi.
Attack on Kazumi Miura
Miura, a clothing importer who often traveled to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, was suspected of conspiring to kill his wife, on November 18, 1981, while visiting Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. On that day an unknown assailant shot Miura in the right leg and his wife in the head while the two were in a Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
parking lot. After the shooting, Kazumi Miura remained in a coma. She was flown back to Japan via a US Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
hospital jet. She was blind, paralyzed, unconscious and subsisting on life-support machinery. She died almost a year to the day after the shooting. Kazumi Miura was the mother of a 13-month-old child.
Miura said that street robbers killed his wife, and, while in the hospital, campaigned against violence in Los Angeles. Miura said that he would write letters to President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and California governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
and ask the two to secure Los Angeles. The incident reinforced Japanese stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s about U.S. violence.
Arrest and trial in Japan
In 1984, the Japanese magazine Shūkan Bunshun published articles which indicated Miura had been involved in the killing of his wife. The articles revealed that he took out a life insuranceLife insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
policy on his wife worth the equivalent of US$1.4 million. In addition, an actress, who said she was Miura's lover, said that Miura asked her to kill his wife. Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992.-Early life:...
, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
during the Miura incident, said that the department and Japanese police suspected Miura had arranged to have his wife killed. However, the shooter was never found and there were no physical evidences linking Miura to the murder.
According to then Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner
Ira Reiner
Ira Kenneth Reiner is an American politician. He was the Los Angeles City Controller from 1977 to 1981, and was the Los Angeles City Attorney from 1981 to 1984, both times being succeeded by James Hahn. He is the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1984 to 1992...
, LAPD homicide detectives did not believe that Miura was the perpetrator, but rather that the events had been a "vicious...street crime". However one officer, Jimmy Sakoda, head of the Asian Crimes Squad, did not share the homicide detectives' conclusions. He took his concerns to Reiner who then began working with Japanese prosecutors. Reiner has stated that were it not for Sakoda's persistence the case might have been relegated to the unsolved, or cold case files.
Miura was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1994, upon which he promptly appealed to Tokyo High Court
Tokyo High Court
is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The Intellectual Property High Court is a special branch of Tokyo High Court....
. After four years of deliberation, Tokyo High Court
Tokyo High Court
is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The Intellectual Property High Court is a special branch of Tokyo High Court....
overturned the conviction and the resulting sentence, because they were not able to identify the sniper and thus could not prove conspiracy. In 2003, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Japan
The Supreme Court of Japan , located in Chiyoda, Tokyo is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law...
also acquitted him of the charge, saying "high court's judgment that there is reasonable doubt that he conspired with an unidentified person to kill his late wife is reasonable." Miura served 13 years in Japanese prisons; six years for assaulting his wife in 1985 and seven more for his vacated 1988 murder conviction. In 2007, he also faced a shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
charge.
Under a 2004 California law, if convicted, the time already served would be credited against any potential sentence.
Arrest by the U.S. authorities and death
California authorities learned that Miura frequently visited U.S. territory on business, and waited until he made a trip to the island of SaipanSaipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
, where he was arrested on February 22, 2008. In Saipan he began fighting extradition to California
and hired lawyers both on Saipan and in Los Angeles.
A former Federal prosecutor noted that the 27 years since the crime could help Miura's defense. "Witness memories don't get better with time," she said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
. Los Angeles prosecutors announced that they identified the actual sniper, though there is no move by the prosecutors to arrest the deadly sniper.
The legal battle to avoid getting extradited to California, which has the death penalty, continued for months, until late September, when the Los Angeles Superior Court dropped the murder charges, due to prohibition of double jeopardy, but found conspiracy charges, which do not have capital punishment, valid. Miura gave up the fight to extradition and was transported to Los Angeles, California, arriving in the early morning of October 10, 2008, That night, according to an announcement by the police, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell. L.A. County coroner has not determined a cause of death as of October 21, 2008.
According to a report by an independent pathologist hired by the defense attorney, the evidence shows Miura was murdered in LA jail cell rather than committed suicide.
Media
A 2004 episode of Law & OrderLaw & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
entitled "Gaijin
Gaijin
is a Japanese word meaning "non-Japanese", or "alien". This word is a short form of gaikokujin , which literally means "person from outside of the country". The word is composed of two kanji: , meaning "outside"; and , meaning "person". Thus, the word technically means "outsider"...
", dealt with many of the aspects of the case. His case was compared to that of O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
.