Child-Slaying Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

A Woodland Hills man accused of kidnaping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday as lawyers began to pick a jury to hear his case.

Hooman Ashkan Panah, 23, earlier had denied charges he killed Nicole Parker, whose body was found a year ago stuffed in a suitcase in Panah’s closet a day after she disappeared. He was indicted by a grand jury in February,

The insanity plea sets the stage for as many as three mini-trials in the case. The first would determine whether Panah killed Nicole, the second whether he was legally sane at the time, and a possible third to decide whether he should receive the death penalty.

Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler appointed two psychiatrists Tuesday to examine Panah, one on behalf of the prosecution and the other for the defense.

If the case proceeds to a sanity phase, the jury will be asked to determine whether Panah knew the difference between right and wrong and understood what he was doing when he killed Nicole.

Testimony is scheduled to begin Dec. 5, and attorneys expect the trial to last about six weeks.

Panah, who lived across a courtyard from Nicole’s father in a sprawling apartment complex on Ventura Boulevard, was charged with the child’s murder after her body was found. Prosecutors said she also had been raped and sodomized.

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The grisly finding followed a frantic weekend search for the child, who had been playing in the courtyard near Panah’s apartment before she disappeared.

Panah came to the attention of police after a suicide attempt when he slashed his wrists and swallowed over-the-counter sleeping pills.

He later gave detectives a statement, which Kriegler recently ruled could be used by prosecutor Peter Berman at the trial.

Another key piece of prosecution evidence is a blood-spattered notebook found in Panah’s BMW. It contained an apology to the child’s family, but blamed the killing on “evil, psychotic” people.