Jailhouse Tapes: Defendant Asks Ex-Fiancee to Cry on Witness Stand

A man accused in the death of a 13-year-old Malibu girl coached his former fiancee on how to testify at his trial, according to several jailhouse conversations.

The recorded phone conversations were played on Wednesday for the jury in the retrial of Sina Khankhanian, who is accused of killing Emily Shane in April 2010. Emily died when Khankhanian's vehicle struck her while she stood on the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway near the Heathercliff Road intersection.

In the conversations, Khankhanian calls his former fiancee, Mardi Martinez, in the months before his second trial. In the first trial, jurors were unable to reach a verdict.

Martinez, who also testified in the first trial, can be heard on the tape with an upbeat voice talking with Khankhanian about her upcoming testimony in April.

Here is a partial and unofficial transcript of the call:

Martinez: "I guess I will do what I did last time."

Khankhanian: "Yeah, just break out and start crying."

Martinez: "I don't think I can."

Khankhanian: "Why not?"

Martinez: "I'm so nervous up there that I become stiff and rigid and like non-emotional and that is what I become up there. Seriously, if I started crying, I won't be able to stop. No one would be able to understand me. I'd have to hold it together"

Khankhanian: "You could write it all out. Write everything out, all the answers. You could do that."

Under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Keri Modder, Martinez confirmed what she said in the tapes.

"I could easily start crying, very easily," Martinez said of her current emotional state.

In another recording, Khankhanian can be heard using expletive language when talking to Martinez about the testimony of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy last week. 

Under cross examination, defense attorney Bradley Brunon, asked Martinez about parts of the tape that were not played for the jury.

"[Khankhanian] says this is all my fault, blame this all on me. He expressed that he feels bad that his parents have gone through this, that the Shane family has gone through this. So when he tells you, 'blame it on me,' he is taking responsibility for what happened?" Brunon said.

"Yes," Martinez replied.

The defense attorney also gave context to the conversation about Martinez's exchange with his client about her testimony.

"The balance of that conversation wasn't played. You said, 'I thought about it both ways, I could let go. I'm not faking it. If I'm rigid and studious, whatever, it's not faking it, and if I start crying, I'm not faking it,'" Brunon said.

"Yes," Martinez said.

Brunon added that while in jail, Khankhanian has changed in appearance and has been on several medications.

Brunon has argued that Khankhanian, could not appreciate that his actions created a risk of death for himself and others.

Before playing the jailhouse recordings, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Moder advised the jury that she was allowing the tapes in because of their importance in assessing the credibility of testimony by experts and Martinez. The judge advised the jury to ignore any comments about the previous trial.