Suspect Lived Off Silver Platter, Prosecutor Says

An Estonian refugee helped kill a woman who gave him free room and board because she had kicked him out of her North Hollywood house, depriving him of the “silver platter” on which he had lived for more than a year, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday.

Tauno Waidla, 22, is accused of participating in the stabbing and beating death of local Estonian activist Viivi Piirisild, 52, on July 12, 1988, about two months after he was evicted from the garage that he had converted into living quarters on the woman’s property. Waidla’s trial began Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court.

Peter Sakarias, 23, is also accused of the murder but has not yet come to trial because he is in a state mental hospital. Sakarias, also an Estonian refugee, was sent there after a judge determined that he was unable to cooperate with his attorney.

Both men face the death penalty if convicted because the murder allegedly was committed while they burglarized Piirisild’s house. The alleged burglary is a “special circumstance” that qualifies the refugees for the death penalty.

“He burglarized that residence and ate the food,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven J. Ipsen, who is prosecuting Waidla, said during an opening statement Wednesday. “He decided it was justified for him to take what was no longer available to him from the silver platter.”

The victim’s husband, Avo Piirisild, testified Wednesday that he and his wife provided Waidla with free room and board shortly after the two men arrived in the United States after deserting the Soviet army and fleeing to the West.