3 Accused in Slaying of 1 Suspect’s Mother to Be Tried Separately

A Van Nuys Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered separate trials for a Canoga Park youth and two of his friends who are accused of strangling the youth’s mother and attempting to murder his 8-year-old half brother.

But Judge George Xanthos refused to move the three trials out of Los Angeles County, as requested by attorneys for 17-year-old Torran Lee Meier and his alleged accomplices, Richard Allan Parker, 23, of Antelope Valley, and Matthew Adam Jay, 18, of Woodland Hills.

Defense attorneys had argued that, if all three were tried together, jurors could hear evidence that is admissible for only one defendant but incriminates another.

Police said that, on Oct. 13, the three wrestled Meier’s mother, Shirley A. Rizk, 34, to the floor of her Canoga Park home and took turns strangling her with a rope.

When Meier’s half brother, Rory Rizk, wandered into the room during the attack, the three decided to kill him also, police said.

Rory testified at a preliminary hearing for the three defendants in January that they at first attempted to poison him. When that failed, they tied his wrists together, blindfolded him and placed him in the back seat of a car, he said.

The youth said he saw his mother’s feet sticking out of the trunk of the car.

Meier and Parker then set fire to the car and pushed it over a cliff off Malibu Canyon Road in Malibu, police said.

Rory testified that he freed himself, climbed out of the burning car and was taken to safety by a passing motorist.

Meier and Parker were apprehended a short distance from the burning car, police said.

Defense attorneys said the change of venue was justified because of extensive media coverage of the case.

After refusing the venue change, Xanthos also denied a subsequent defense request to use only jurors from downtown Los Angeles Superior Court.

Xanthos set Meier’s trial for March 31, and Parker’s and Jay’s trial for April 28. All three are being held without bail.

The three are charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy.