WOODLAND HILLS : Trial Opens in Case of Slain Gasoline Broker

Prosecutors say it’s a simple case: A Woodland Hills gasoline broker was executed in his car parked on a quiet street because his killers wanted the $26,000 in cash they had just delivered to him.

But lawyers for the two defendants accused of gunning down Daryoush Khorrami contend their is no physical evidence linking their clients to the Sept. 15 slaying.

A Superior Court jury on Monday heard attorneys present these opposing versions of events on the first day of trial for Jerry Killedjian, 25, of Glendale, and Arsen Darbianian, 21, of Los Angeles.

Both men, if convicted, face life in prison without the possibility of parole, because the killing allegedly took place during a robbery.

In a courtroom packed with family and supporters of both the victim and the defendants, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen M. Cady said Killedjian was in Las Vegas the morning Khorrami was killed, and he had to borrow money from Darbianian in order to fly home.

“This case is about a coldblooded murder for about $26,000,” Cady said. “It is about a cold, calculated murder.”

Khorrami was shot four times as he sat in the driver’s seat of his white Mercedes-Benz parked on the 4200 block of Satsuma Avenue in North Hollywood. He had just left a restaurant that was less than one mile away where he had dined with Killedjian, Cady said.

The prosecutor promised to show the jury that during dinner Killedjian had delivered just over $26,000 to Khorrami as part of a gasoline deal.

A ledger found under Khorrami’s right leg was opened to a page marked “Jerry,” a police detective testified Monday.

Killedjian’s attorney, Charles R. English, told the jury that a number of people had both the means and the motive to kill Khorrami, who often made transactions involving large sums of cash.

English also questioned the lack of physical evidence, and asked the jury to consider why no fingerprints at the scene match either defendant, why no murder weapon was ever recovered, and why the alleged killers would ambush the victim under bright street lights.