LOS ANGELES – A court hearing will resume Friday to determine whether a Japanese man will be extradited to the United States to stand trial for his wife's death 27 years ago.

Kazuyoshi Miura, who was arrested in the U.S. territory of Saipan on a business trip in February, claims he should not answer to courts here because he has already stood trial for his wife's murder in Japan. He argues double jeopardy rules should protect him from a second trial.

The 60-year-old Miura is accused of having his wife shot during a visit to Los Angeles in 1981. She died in Japan a year later and Miura was eventually convicted there in 1994, but that verdict was overturned by the country's high courts.

The court hearing began last month but was delayed after the judge decided to wait for an expert to become available to testify. When proceedings resume, Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen will listen to arguments about whether Miura should be extradited. Miura was connected to the courtroom via a television link, but there will be no such hookup Friday.

Miura faces murder and conspiracy charges, but even if the murder charge is barred under double jeopardy laws, prosecutors have said Miura should still be tried for conspiracy because he was not convicted or acquitted of that crime in Japan.

Prosecutors have also said Miura cannot claim double jeopardy because he never entered a plea under California law and was not tried here.

If Sicklen decides Miura should not be brought to the U.S., prosecutors would likely appeal the decision, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney.

During the first part of the hearing, prosecutors presented an expert who gave lengthy testimony on whether Japan has a law regarding conspiracy and whether Miura had already been tried on the charge in that country.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos has said he might call his own expert witness to speak at the hearing.

Miura and his wife were shot near a downtown parking lot as they photographed the Los Angeles skyline. Miura was hit in the leg and his wife, Kazumi Miura, 28, was shot in the head. Miura has claimed the couple was attacked by robbers.

Authorities have long suspected Miura orchestrated the killing so he could collect on his wife's life insurance.

The tangled case has for decades captivated Japanese media, which have dubbed the saga the “Japanese O.J. case.”