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Los Angeles Times
October 6, 2012 Saturday
Home Edition
2 sentenced in teen's '09 murder
Zareh Manjikian gets 50 years to life and Vahagn Jurian gets 25 years
to life in a killing spurred by a message.
by Hailey Branson-Potts
Decrying "how much was lost for so little," a Los Angeles County
Superior Court judge Friday sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms
for killing a teenager three years ago over an insulting text message.
Zareh Manjikian was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, and
Vahagn Jurian was given a 25-years-to-life term in the shooting death
of 19-year-old Gombert "Mike" Yepremyan.
"The life of a young man ... is lost over a single, thoughtless word
in a text message," Judge Gregory A. Dohi said. "This is the epitome
of senselessness, and that strikes me."
Prosecutors said Yepremyan was targeted in November 2009 after firing
off a text message to his girlfriend in which he referred to one of
her friends as a "bitch." That friend, Khatun Vardanian, reportedly
saw the message, became enraged and called her brother to beat up
Yepremyan.
Yepremyan received phone calls from a stranger who asked to meet him
at a Sears parking lot in North Hollywood, witnesses said. There,
Yepremyan and several friends encountered two men. After talking
briefly, one of the men hit Yepremyan and the second pulled out a gun
and shot him in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
Manjikian was identified as the shooter and Jurian as the second man,
but neither was arrested until 2011.
In August, a jury found Manjikian and Jurian, both 25, guilty of
first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit assault. Vardanian, 23,
and her brother, Hovik Dzhuryan, 20, were also convicted in August of
conspiracy to commit assault. Each was sentenced Friday to five years'
probation and 1,000 hours of community service.
The four defendants, wearing blue and orange jail jumpsuits, were kept
behind a glass barrier during their sentencing hearing in the Van Nuys
Courthouse West.
About 15 Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies guarded the courtroom,
where emotions were expected to run high. Family members of the victim
were seated on one side of the courtroom, and family members of the
defendants were kept on the other, with several rows of seats
separating them. Before the hearing, deputies warned the audience not
to be disruptive.
The parents of Yepremyan gave emotional speeches before the sentences
were read in which they remembered their son as a generous young man
and spoke to the defendants. "I wish I never met you guys," Ani
Atajyan, Yepremyan's mother, said tearfully, looking at the
defendants.
Atajyan thought her son was worried about the influence Vardanian
could have on his girlfriend, of whom he was protective, she said.
Jurian's sisters, Anna and Ruzanna Jurian, wept as they read tributes
to their brother before the sentencing was read. Ruzanna Jurian, in a
poem she wrote, described her brother as "loving and caring ... full
of life and energy ... then all of a sudden his world came crashing to
the ground."
"Convicting an innocent for a loss of life is neither justice, closure
nor revenge," Ruzanna Jurian said. "For my brother, we will not stop
for anything."
Jurian, who authorities believed had fled to Armenia, was arrested in
2011 after police staked out his Van Nuys home. As his sentence was
read by the judge, his sisters sobbed loudly.
Manjikian was initially picked up in Puerto Rico, but a judge there
granted him bail, and he vanished, authorities said. He then
apparently used his brother's ID to fly out of the island territory,
first to Philadelphia and then to Las Vegas before finally
surrendering in Van Nuys.
Vardanian, who kept her head down during most of the hearing, wept as
she made a statement before the sentencing was read.
"I am not cold-hearted," she said. "I am not a sociopath.... I know my
honesty is in question and my sincerity is too.... I'm not violent,
and I didn't conspire to do anything."
Dohi denied the individual requests of all four defendants for new
trials. After reading the sentencings, he said it was tragic "how
easily things could have turned out differently" the night of
Yepremyan's death.
October 6, 2012 Saturday
Home Edition
2 sentenced in teen's '09 murder
Zareh Manjikian gets 50 years to life and Vahagn Jurian gets 25 years
to life in a killing spurred by a message.
by Hailey Branson-Potts
Decrying "how much was lost for so little," a Los Angeles County
Superior Court judge Friday sentenced two men to lengthy prison terms
for killing a teenager three years ago over an insulting text message.
Zareh Manjikian was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, and
Vahagn Jurian was given a 25-years-to-life term in the shooting death
of 19-year-old Gombert "Mike" Yepremyan.
"The life of a young man ... is lost over a single, thoughtless word
in a text message," Judge Gregory A. Dohi said. "This is the epitome
of senselessness, and that strikes me."
Prosecutors said Yepremyan was targeted in November 2009 after firing
off a text message to his girlfriend in which he referred to one of
her friends as a "bitch." That friend, Khatun Vardanian, reportedly
saw the message, became enraged and called her brother to beat up
Yepremyan.
Yepremyan received phone calls from a stranger who asked to meet him
at a Sears parking lot in North Hollywood, witnesses said. There,
Yepremyan and several friends encountered two men. After talking
briefly, one of the men hit Yepremyan and the second pulled out a gun
and shot him in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
Manjikian was identified as the shooter and Jurian as the second man,
but neither was arrested until 2011.
In August, a jury found Manjikian and Jurian, both 25, guilty of
first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit assault. Vardanian, 23,
and her brother, Hovik Dzhuryan, 20, were also convicted in August of
conspiracy to commit assault. Each was sentenced Friday to five years'
probation and 1,000 hours of community service.
The four defendants, wearing blue and orange jail jumpsuits, were kept
behind a glass barrier during their sentencing hearing in the Van Nuys
Courthouse West.
About 15 Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies guarded the courtroom,
where emotions were expected to run high. Family members of the victim
were seated on one side of the courtroom, and family members of the
defendants were kept on the other, with several rows of seats
separating them. Before the hearing, deputies warned the audience not
to be disruptive.
The parents of Yepremyan gave emotional speeches before the sentences
were read in which they remembered their son as a generous young man
and spoke to the defendants. "I wish I never met you guys," Ani
Atajyan, Yepremyan's mother, said tearfully, looking at the
defendants.
Atajyan thought her son was worried about the influence Vardanian
could have on his girlfriend, of whom he was protective, she said.
Jurian's sisters, Anna and Ruzanna Jurian, wept as they read tributes
to their brother before the sentencing was read. Ruzanna Jurian, in a
poem she wrote, described her brother as "loving and caring ... full
of life and energy ... then all of a sudden his world came crashing to
the ground."
"Convicting an innocent for a loss of life is neither justice, closure
nor revenge," Ruzanna Jurian said. "For my brother, we will not stop
for anything."
Jurian, who authorities believed had fled to Armenia, was arrested in
2011 after police staked out his Van Nuys home. As his sentence was
read by the judge, his sisters sobbed loudly.
Manjikian was initially picked up in Puerto Rico, but a judge there
granted him bail, and he vanished, authorities said. He then
apparently used his brother's ID to fly out of the island territory,
first to Philadelphia and then to Las Vegas before finally
surrendering in Van Nuys.
Vardanian, who kept her head down during most of the hearing, wept as
she made a statement before the sentencing was read.
"I am not cold-hearted," she said. "I am not a sociopath.... I know my
honesty is in question and my sincerity is too.... I'm not violent,
and I didn't conspire to do anything."
Dohi denied the individual requests of all four defendants for new
trials. After reading the sentencings, he said it was tragic "how
easily things could have turned out differently" the night of
Yepremyan's death.