Glendale Slaying Suspects Sent to Juvenile Court

Declaring that California law does not permit indictment of minors, a judge Thursday sent the case of the three Armenian teenagers accused of murdering a Glendale Latino youth to Juvenile Court.

The ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler was hailed as a victory by defense attorneys, but prosecutors said they may appeal.

“It shows that the district attorney’s office has been overly aggressive in this case,” said Mark Geragos, who represents Karen Terteryan, 18. “We’ll go back to Juvenile Court where justice will prevail.”

Victoria Pipkin, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said, “The judge had a different interpretation [of the law] than us, and that happens.”

The ruling is the latest turn in what may become a test case in the interpretation of Proposition 21. Under the law, approved by voters in March, juveniles 14 and older can be tried in adult court for serious crimes such as murder.

Originally, Terteryan, who was 17 at the time, Rafael Gevorgyan, 15, and Anait Msryan, 14, were charged in Glendale Superior Court with first-degree murder in the May slaying of 17-year-old Raul Aguirre outside Hoover High School. Authorities believe that Aguirre was killed in a gang-related fight fueled by ethnic tensions. Aguirre, a Hoover senior who authorities said was not a gang member, was attacked as he tried to break up a scuffle between two Armenian boys and a Latino youth.

Gevorgyan allegedly clubbed Aguirre in the face with a tire iron and Terteryan allegedly stabbed him with a knife. Msryan allegedly had driven them to the crime scene and tried to help Terteryan, her boyfriend, escape after the killing. The incident happened in front of about 50 students.

Among the first teenagers in Los Angeles County to be charged as adults under Proposition 21, Terteryan, Gevorgyan and Msryan faced possible life sentences if convicted. But in Juvenile Court, the maximum penalty would be incarceration until age 25.

Last month, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Lopez obtained a Los Angeles County Grand Jury indictment of the three youths, and the charges against them in Glendale were routinely dismissed. Prosecutors declined to comment on why they sought an indictment, which defense attorneys believe was a tactic to avoid preliminary hearings, which could have revealed the prosecution game plan before a formal trial.

Under the law, the district attorney’s office may file charges as many as three times for special circumstances cases, so prosecutors have one more chance to refile in adult court, said Andrew Flier, who represents Gevorgyan.

Fidler called the indictment “a violation of the statutory scheme” of Proposition 21, and added: “The grand jury did not have a right to do what it did.”

Fidler said he would either have to dismiss the case or refer it to Juvenile Court. Lopez, who declined comment afterward, chose the latter.