SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — Four Los Angeles Police Department detectives say they likely will be going back to California without a Japanese man accused of arranging for his wife's murder in California more than a quarter century ago.

Rick Jackson of the department's Cold Case Homicide Unit says the officers are disappointed in a Supreme Court order halting extradition of Kazuyoshi Miura pending an appeal.

Chief Justice Miguel Demapan's ruling Monday came just hours before Jackson, Eri Poss, Hope Young and Richard Bengston arrived in Saipan.

Miura is accused of conspiring to have his wife shot when they were visiting Los Angeles in 1981. She died a year later.

Defense lawyer Bruce Berline said California missed its chance to pursue the 61-year-old Miura.

A Japanese court acquitted Miura in 1998.