Tokyo Woman Draws 2 1/2-Year Sentence for L.A. Murder Attempt

Michiko Yazawa, 25-year-old former mistress of Tokyo businessman Kazuyoshi Miura, was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for the attempted murder of Miura’s third wife, Kazumi, in a Los Angeles hotel. She had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge.

Miura is the central figure in what has come to be known in Japan as the “Los Angeles Suspicion” case. His wife died of head wounds suffered during what he described as a holdup in Los Angeles about three months after the attempt on her life by Yazawa.

In pronouncing the sentence, Tokyo District Judge Yoshio Shibata, the senior of three judges presiding over the trial, called the crime committed by Yazawa--a former waitress and one-time actress in a soft-core porno movie--”evil and self-centered,” and that he had no choice but to send her to prison.

Made Full Confession

Yazawa’s full confession and her repeated court statements of repentance had prompted speculation that she would be let off with a suspended sentence, common in Japan for first offenses.

Shibata disputed Yazawa’s allegation that she did not intend to kill Kazumi Miura when she attacked her in a room of the New Otani Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with a hammerlike instrument. Yazawa maintained that the weapon, as well as funds for her trip to Los Angeles, had been provided for her by Miura.

Judge Shibata also rejected Yazawa’s claim that she was not interested in sharing in the equivalent of $480,000 in insurance payments on a policy that Miura had taken out on his wife.

Miura is scheduled to be tried on the same charge as Yazawa, that of attempted murder, on Jan. 14. Miura and Yazawa, who were arrested in Japan three months ago, were charged under a rarely invoked law that makes Japanese citizens liable for crimes committed overseas.

Murder Charges Filed

Shortly after Japanese prosecutors filed charges against Yazawa and Miura, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner named Miura as the sole suspect in the slaying of his wife and Chizuko Shiraishi, a former female friend of Miura whose remains were identified last year. She had been missing since 1979.

“Los Angeles Suspicion” was the title of a series of magazine articles that accused Miura of benefiting financially from the deaths of both his wife and Shiraishi. While Miura has admitted receiving the equivalent of about $600,000 in insurance money after the death of his wife, and withdrawing $21,000 from Shiraishi’s bank account, he has denied any involvement in the deaths of the two women.

Yazawa’s lawyer told reporters that Yazawa will decide later whether to appeal her sentence.