LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Prosecutors argued that a bid to throw out the arrest warrant for a Japanese businessman in the 1980s murder of his wife is premature and cannot be pursued until he is extradited from Saipan.

Attorney Mark Geragos claimed that a new trial for Kazuyoshi Miura would be double jeopardy because he was already tried in Japan. Geragos said the warrant for Miura's arrest was defective.

In a reply brief to his motion, Deputy District Attorney Hoon Chun said Tuesday that the law precludes Geragos from challenging the arrest warrant by raising the double jeopardy issue, which is a "substantive defense" that should come up after Miura appears in Los Angeles and has a preliminary hearing.

Chun said the issue cannot be argued without the defendant present.

"Put another way, defendant cannot simply phone in his defense to these felony charges," said the motion. "Thus, while defendant's double jeopardy arguments lack merit both factually and legally, the time and place for litigating this issue, like the defendant himself, has not yet arrived."

A hearing on the issue is set for April 2.

Miura, 60, was arrested last month in the U.S. territory of Saipan and Los Angeles authorities are seeking his extradition.

In 1981, he was shot in the leg and his wife was shot in the head in Los Angeles. Kazumi Miura, 28, died the following year in Japan. Los Angeles police initially accepted Miura's story of being shot by robbers but later became convinced he conspired with someone to have his wife killed to collect life insurance.

Miura was convicted in Japan of murdering his wife, but that verdict was overturned by the country's high courts 10 years ago.

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