Teen Gets House Arrest for Role After Killing

A student expelled from a Glendale high school was sentenced Monday to six months’ house arrest and three years’ probation after pleading guilty to driving the alleged killer of another student away from the crime scene.

Babken Santrosyan, 18, faced a maximum three-year sentence in state prison after pleading guilty in Pasadena Superior Court to being an accessory after the fact of discharging a firearm.

Santrosyan admitted to allowing Artiom Badalyan into his car Sept. 10 after a fight between two groups of Hoover High School students led to the shooting death of Avetis Demirchyan, 15. Badalyan is on trial, facing second-degree murder charges in Demirchyan’s death.

Santrosyan’s role in the shooting would have earned him jail time if not for his cooperation in Badalyan’s trial, said Pasadena Superior Court Judge J. Michael Byrne.

“I think normally county jail would be proper,” Byrne said during Monday’s sentencing. “Had he not cooperated and testified, I would have imposed one year in jail.”

Defense attorney Mark Bledstein asked the judge for leniency due to the “great personal sacrifice” Santrosyan made by cooperating in the Badalyan trial.

“Both he and his family have been under the intimidation of threats from people in the community,” Bledstein said. “He will continue to suffer as a result of living in the Glendale community.”

While acknowledging Santrosyan’s cooperation in the Badalyan trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Foland-Priver requested a sentence of six months to one year in county jail.

“He should be incarcerated for some period of time due to the seriousness of the offense,” Foland-Priver told the judge before sentencing.

Deborah Haar is a reporter for Times Community News.