Defense Takes Offensive in Teen’s Double-Murder Trial

The double-murder trial of teenager Michael Demirdjian seemingly fell down a rabbit hole into a courtroom wonderland Tuesday, with prosecutors and the defense attorney appearing to switch roles.

While Demirdjian is the defendant, testimony Tuesday revolved around Adam Walker, the man Demirdjian has accused of committing the crimes.

The defense in the 12-day trial has been trying to persuade jurors that Walker is responsible for killing 14-year-old Blaine Talmo Jr. and 13-year-old Christopher McCulloch on a La Crescenta school playground.

Walker was arrested, but not charged, and police said he is not a suspect.

“There is no physical evidence linking [Walker]” to the crime scene, testified Dennis Smith, the lead Glendale Police Department investigator on the case, Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pasadena.

Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Barshop, Smith said Walker had no motive to kill.

Prosecutors allege it was Demirdjian who robbed and beat Blaine and Christopher to death with a rock July 22 last year because he was angry over a drug deal rip-off.

Blaine had introduced Demirdjian to Walker, a drug dealer, who took $660 from Demirdjian without giving him the promised marijuana, according to testimony. Demirdjian and several other youths--whom prosecutors have named as suspects but not yet charged with murder--then tried to exact revenge on Walker and his associates for the rip-off, according to testimony.

Defense attorney Charles T. Mathews suggested in questioning Smith that the drug rip-off did not occur.

“Did you ever consider the possibility that Adam Walker and his friends . . . concocted the story?” Mathews asked.

“I don’t believe they made it up,” Smith replied.

In earlier testimony, 18-year-old Harold Nam testified under a grant of immunity that Demirdjian, along with a group of Korean youths who prosecutors have named as suspects, tried to ambush and kidnap Walker sometime after the alleged rip-off and before the murders. But Walker got away, Nam said.

The same police dog that tracked a scent trail from the crime scene to Demirdjian’s house also led investigators to an area about a mile up the same street. Mathews contended that the dog could have been following a trail left by Walker.

Lawyers for both sides said Walker has indicated through his attorney that if called he would invoke his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and remain silent.

On Tuesday, Demirdjian’s parents also took the witness stand.

Demirdjian was adopted at birth by Armenian parents. The boy began having problems a few years ago after repeated tauntings from classmates and a teacher about how he didn’t look like his parents, said his mother, Sossi Demirdjian.

Both of Demirdjian’s parents denied that their only son is violent.

But a former co-worker of the boy’s father, Gary Demirdjian, testified that the man had told her about severe problems with his son.

Gary Demirdjian had a scuffle with his son and came to work with cuts on his legs and a blood speck coming through his shirt, testified Mary Lisa Benson, who works for Walt Disney Co., where Gary Demirdjian had worked as an engineering project consultant.

Gary Demirdjian told her about a time when the boy attacked his mother, Benson testified. “He told me stories of his son destroying furniture, taking a baseball bat and knocking light fixtures out, destroying a stereo.”

Benson testified she urged Gary Demirdjian--whom she described as a gentle and kind man--to get professional help for his troubled boy.

“I remember thinking about the Columbine murders and how that could be Gary,” Benson said.