Man Pleads Not Guilty in Woman’s Death

A Palmdale man charged with murdering an 84-year-old woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday in the same courthouse where the dead woman’s niece is a Municipal Court judge.

Aramzi Badwi, 32, could face the death penalty under the charges against him. He is accused of murdering Grace Perrin with three special circumstances: committing the killing during a robbery, during a burglary, and killing a witness to a theft.

But Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen said it was “just too soon” to decide whether to seek capital punishment. “There’s still a lot to sort out,” Cohen said.

Badwi’s attorney, Public Defender Michael Duffey, could not be reached for comment.

Perrin was killed Thursday afternoon outside the rear door of her small home in the 14400 block of Miranda Street in Van Nuys.

The killer made off with jewelry and other personal items after fatally beating her on the head and chest.

On Saturday, Badwi was arrested at his home in the 13900 block of 30th Street in east Palmdale. Cohen said among the evidence against him was a pawnbroker’s ticket for at least one of the items stolen from Perrin’s home and a witness’ account that Badwi had spoken with Perrin outside her home the day of the killing.

Cohen said he did not know how Badwi met the victim, a widow who had lived alone for several years and suffered health problems recently.

Perrin was the aunt of prominent Van Nuys Municipal Judge Jessica Perrin Silvers, whose courtroom is six floors above that of Judge Leland Harris, who accepted Badwi’s plea Tuesday. Harris scheduled a Nov. 15 preliminary hearing for Badwi, who will be held without bail in the Van Nuys jail.

The day after the killing, police carried out a 50-officer sweep against Asian gang members, using a search warrant issued by Silvers. Cohen repeated police assertions that there was no evidence to suggest a connection between the slaying and the police sweep, which resulted in the arrest of one man and a teenage boy and the confiscation of several firearms.

Silvers faced violence herself in 1988, when she was a Los Angeles deputy city attorney. A defendant held a gun to her head in Van Nuys Superior Court, but she was rescued following a gunfight in which the defendant was killed and a court officer wounded.