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Double jeopardy decision delayed

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A Los Angeles judge Friday postponed deciding whether double jeopardy should prevent prosecutors from trying a Japanese businessman in the fatal shooting of his young wife in a Los Angeles street.

Kazuyoshi Miura was convicted in Japan of the 1981 slaying, but the Tokyo High Court overturned the ruling.

A 2004 California law barred double jeopardy claims by those prosecuted in other countries, but defense attorney Mark Geragos had argued that the statute did not apply because the slaying and Miura’s acquittal in Japan predated its passage.

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Steven R. Van Sicklen said he can not determine whether double jeopardy applied until he receives clear legal documentation about the Japanese court’s ruling. He scheduled another hearing for June 16, when Geragos and prosecutor Alan Jackson hope to have the 300-page ruling from Japanese courts and other documents translated.

-- Joel Rubin

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