2 men sentenced in teen’s ‘text-message’ death
Decrying “how much was lost for so little,” a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Friday sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms for killing a teenager three years ago over an insulting text message.
Zareh Manjikian was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, and Vahagn Jurian was given a 25-years-to-life term in the shooting death of 19-year-old Gombert “Mike” Yepremyan.
“The life of a young man … is lost over a single, thoughtless word in a text message,” Judge Gregory A. Dohi said. “This is the epitome of senselessness, and that strikes me.”
Prosecutors said Yepremyan was targeted in November 2009 after firing off a text message to his girlfriend in which he referred to one of her friends as a “bitch.” That friend, Khatun Vardanian, reportedly saw the message, became enraged and called her brother to beat up Yepremyan.
Yepremyan received phone calls from a stranger who asked to meet him at a Sears parking lot in North Hollywood, witnesses said.
-- Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times