Okubo

In 1981, Kazumi Miura, a Japanese citizen, was murdered while vacationing in Los An-geles. Suspicion eventually settled on her husband, Kazuyoshi Miura, who allegedly hired an associate, Yoshikuni Okubo, to murder Miura’s wife in order to collect insurance proceeds.

In May 1988, the Tokyo District Prosecutor’s Office began a criminal investigation of appellants, Miura and Okubo, and requested assistance from the United States Department of State in collecting evidence. The State Department forwarded the letter of request to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which applied to the United States District Court for the Central District of California for an order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (1988) (titled “Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants before such tribunals”). The district court granted the application and issued an order appointing appellees as co-commissioners to facilitate the gathering of evidence. The commissioners supervised the taking of witness depositions and the production of documentary and physical evidence. In November 1988, the Tokyo District Prosecutor’s Office indicted appellants Okubo and…