Grandmother arrested for alleged threats

High emotions in hit-and-run trial lead to an altercation outside of court, Thursday.PASADENA -- A 67-year-old grandmother was arrested Friday for allegedly intimidating witnesses at a hearing for her grandson, who is charged with murdering a Burbank teen in a hit-and-run accident.

Marusya Zatkyan, of Glendale, was arrested on suspicion of intimidating a witness and making terrorist threats and is being held at the Glendale City Jail on $200,000 bail.

Her grandson, Andranik Manukovich Atshemyan, 23, is charged with one count of murder and one count of leaving the scene of an accident in connection with the fatal traffic collision that killed 18-year-old Oscar Torres and injured another Burbank teen in November.

There was an altercation of some kind outside the court Thursday, the first day of Atshemyan’s preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge Fred Fujioka said.

He would not elaborate on what happened outside, but said that a court bailiff informed him that three women, who appeared to be relatives or friends of Atshemyan’s, were making faces at a witness on the stand Thursday.

“There was a disturbance in the hallway, and it was all yesterday after court,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schwartz said.

Defense attorney Jerry Kaplan pleaded with the judge Friday to resolve the matter, but Fujioka said it was not in his jurisdiction.

“It’s ridiculous, she is a [67]-year-old grandmother,” Kaplan said.

“The [district attorney’s] office and Glendale Police, for whatever motives, are attempting to make this accident more than an accident and they are just fanning the flames further.”

More than 10 of Torres’ relatives and friends who attended Friday’s hearing were asked to clear the court room before any of Atshemyan’s friends or relatives could leave.

“That was to avoid any conflict and actually that was suggested by courtroom security staff to avoid any potential conflict between the defendant’s family and any of the witnesses and the victims,” Schwartz said. “And that’s not a very unusual procedure.”

Several minutes later, Atshemyan’s friends and relatives were released.

“These are two families that both have children at stake and unfortunately for both families, because of the love they have for their kids, they have high emotions,” Kaplan said.

Atshemyan was allegedly traveling southbound on Columbus Avenue near Riverdale Drive at about 9:40 p.m. on Nov. 19 when his 1998 Land Rover SUV allegedly hit a raised traffic calming circle in the middle of the intersection, veered to the right, then hit a parked 1993 Nissan 240SX, Glendale Sgt. Peter Pressnal said.

Torres and a friend were in the Nissan at the time.

Atshemyan allegedly fled the scene on foot.

He fled to Canada with plan to travel to Armenia, police said, but was apprehended by Canadian officials on Nov. 24, Thanksgiving Day -- the same day Torres died.

Ronald Estrada, who witnessed the collision, testified Friday that Atshemyan sat on the curb after the accident, looked around and then ran off.

“The minute I saw him sitting in the street, I didn’t yell anything,” Estrada said.

“His head went to the left then to the right, then he popped up and he was gone ... I never saw him again the rest of the evening.”

The hearing will resume Monday at Pasadena Superior Court.

* TANIA CHATILA covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at (818) 637-3232 or by e-mail at tania.chatila@

latimes.com.

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