Minor’s Murder Indictment Is Tossed by Court

A state appellate court Friday dismissed a murder indictment against one of the juveniles charged in the killing of a Glendale high school senior last year and ordered preliminary hearings for the two other minors.

Prosecutors can try to refile the charges against Karen Terteryan, but his attorney said he plans to fight any new charges as excessive prosecution of the case.

Meanwhile, the other two defendants, Rafael Gevorgyan and Anait Msryan, will have preliminary hearings. They were both found unfit to be tried as juveniles.

In a unanimous decision, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that a grand jury cannot legally indict minors charged as adults under Proposition 21, as these defendants were. It found the ballot measure approved by voters in March 2000 entitles them to preliminary hearings, which are available only when prosecutors directly charge defendants.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office had filed murder charges against the three defendants but dismissed them. They were then indicted by the grand jury in a move that allowed prosecutors to forgo preliminary hearings.

The defendants were among the first juveniles in Los Angeles County to be charged as adults under Proposition 21, which allows juveniles to be tried as adults for certain crimes. As a result, their criminal proceedings have provided a procedural testing ground for the new law.

Criminal defense attorney Mark J. Geragos declared the ruling “a death knell” for Proposition 21, saying that judges, not prosecutors, should have the final say in which juveniles are charged as adults under the new law. By requiring a preliminary hearing, a trial court judge will be allowed to make the final decision, he said.

“You can’t allow the prosecutor to decide willy-nilly” which defendants should be tried as adults, Geragos said. He said he will fight prosecutor efforts to refile charges against his client, Terteryan, for the third time.

After the appellate argument, criminal defense attorney Andrew Reed Flier also said if he won, he would ask the trial court to dismiss all charges against his clients, Gevorgyan and Msryan, because prosecutors have twice failed to make the charges stick. He was unavailable for comment Friday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew G. Monforton declined to speculate if his office will appeal the ruling but said the issues must be resolved.

“The gravity and statewide importance of the issues involved in this case necessitate our seeking further review,” he said.

Authorities allege that Terteryan, then 17, stabbed Hoover High School senior Raul Aguirre while Gevorgyan, then 15, clubbed him with a tire iron. Msryan, then 14, allegedly drove her accomplices to the crime scene and tried to help her boyfriend Terteryan escape.

Aguirre was attacked outside of school in May 2000 as students looked on. Authorities say he was not a gang member but had jumped into a fight to help another Latino student, who escaped.

Terteryan was indicted for killing Aguirre. He and Gevorgyan face life in prison if convicted of murder with the special circumstance of killing to further street gang activities, attempted murder and street terrorism.

Msryan also is charged with murder and could be sentenced to 25 years to life if convicted.

In making its decision, the appellate court relied on the wording of Proposition 21 and state criminal law, accepting the defendants’ arguments.

Justice Robert M. Mallano wrote that grand jury indictments do “not contain allegations made by the prosecutor,” as mandated.

He noted the ballot measure requires a magistrate to make a reasonable-cause finding that the minor falls within the scope of the law, a proceeding unavailable with a grand jury indictment.

‘The reference to the duty of the magistrate strongly suggests that the drafters of Proposition 21 did not envision grand jury indictment as being part of the new statutory scheme,” Mallano wrote.

Presiding Justice Vaino H. Spencer and Justice Reuben A. Ortega concurred in the 16-page opinion.