Coroner rules Japanese businessman's death suicide

The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled the death of a Japanese businessman in an LAPD jail cell was a suicide by hanging.

Kazuyoshi Miura, who was accused of killing his wife in 1981, was found dead Oct. 10 at the Parker Center jail. Police officials have insisted Miura hanged himself with a T-shirt less than a day after being extradited to Los Angeles from Saipan to stand trial on a conspiracy charge in his wife's death. His lawyer, however, has challenged that, saying the man suffered injuries consistent with a choking or beating.

In a statement issued today, coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said the death was ruled a suicide based on an Oct. 12 autopsy and subsequent tests. "The findings of the autopsy have established the cause of death to be: hanging," Harvey said "Anatomical findings show no other evidence of fatal trauma."

Miura's attorney, Mark Geragos, however, has said that pathologists found injuries to the middle and lower parts of the back as well as to the larynx.

--Richard Winton

Photo: AP