Murder Trial Testimony Concludes

Jurors heard from the final witness on Wednesday in the trial of Sina Khankhanian, the man accused of murdering Malibu eighth-grader . The lawyers will make their closing arguments at the Airport Courthouse this morning, and then the jury of eight men and four women will receive their instructions before they begin to deliberate.

This is not a usual murder case in which the jury must decide whether one person killed another. It is not in dispute that on April 3, 2010, Khankhanian's blue Mitsubishi Lancer struck and killed Emily while she stood on the Pacific Coast Highway shoulder near Heathercliff Road.

What the jury must decide is whether what Khankhanian did was second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in state prison. It is possible Judge Katherine Mader could tell the jury it has the option to convict Khankhanian of involuntary manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of four years in custody.

Last week, . This week, the majority of those who testified were traffic collision and mental health experts. Sgt. Troy Ewing, the lead detective on the case, also testified.

Ewing said it was quickly determined the incident was not an accident, and that Khankhanian deliberately drove off the highway. Defense attorney Bradley Brunon asked him whether he believed his client aimed for Emily. He said he did not know. Brunon also asked Ewing why a full accident investigation, or reconstruction, was not done.

"When traffic investigators realized it was an intentional incident, they stopped what they were doing and called homicide," Ewing said.

The detective said when the homicide determination was made, he knew about the suicide note Khankhanian had written, the 911 call the defendant's mother had made after she saw the note and the calls that had been made by witnesses about Khankhanian's "erratic" driving from the home he shared with his fiancée on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills to the crime scene.

Brunon, who says his client did not intend to swerve off the highway, focused on the lack of an accident investigation. When he began presenting his case on Tuesday, his first witness was Deputy David Huelsen, a traffic investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Huelsen said the evidence showed Khankhanian made an "abrupt" turn of the steering wheel to the right, forcing the car to travel both forward and laterally about 131 feet—with the target being the utility pole that he eventually reached.

The deputy stressed that it was not a skid, which is caused by braking. He said he saw no evidence brakes were ever used because this would have created skid marks, which were not found. He did find yaw marks, which are created by a sliding vehicle.

Brunon responded that it was unlikely his client knew the exact point on the highway to begin the slide so that he would reach the pole. He asked, "Do you have any reason to believe he's a stunt driver?" 

Huelsen did not answer the question because prosecutor Marna Miller objected to it as being argumentative, which the judge sustained.

The deputy said he "didn't get into the actual dynamics of what the vehicle did." Brunon again asked why no accident reconstruction was done, to which Huelsen replied that it was not an accident. He also noted that Khankhanian told emergency responders he had meant to hit the pole. Brunon has argued that many of the statements his client made that evening were not accurate.

Brunon asked if an accident reconstruction would have helped with the investigation. Huelsen responded, "During an investigation, any additional information is going to be helpful."

The defense also called Kenneth Solomon, an accident reconstruction expert who had originally been hired to investigate the incident by Khankhanian's insurance company. He was later hired by Brunon. Solomon said the evidence showed Khankhanian had lost control of the vehicle, and was not aiming for anything.

"Once the vehicle got out of control, it had no steering capability—essentially no steering capability," Solomon said.

Miller asked Solomon why he didn't ask Khankhanian what had happened. Solomon said he did not believe it would be helpful because of Khankhanian's "mental instability."

The jury heard from two experts with differing opinions on Khankhanian's mental health. Neuropsychologist Mary Elizabeth Large, who testified for the defense, and psychiatrist Kaushal Sharma, who testified for the prosecution, had interviewed Khankhanian and his parents and reviewed various records. They agreed he is autistic, but they disagreed on how it affects him.

Large said he has what she called a "lack of intentionality," meaning he "doesn't understand or appreciate the potential negative effects of his actions before he does them."

She said, "This was an individual who had a number of mental conditions that resulted in him having difficulty really being able to appreciate … potential consequences of his actions, being able to foresee, whether good or bad, what might arise from his behavior—and on the basis of that, being able to modify or regulate his behavior."

Sharma said Khankhanian, who he said has high-functioning autism, is able to appreciate potential consequences. He said Khankhanian wanted to kill himself and got on the road to accomplish the mission.

"I believe, at least in my opinion, there is overwhelming evidence that the defendant was trying to accomplish a goal [during his drive leading up to the crash], and the goal was, for whatever reason, he wanted to kill himself," Sharma said.

The defendant's mother, Farideh Khankhanian, testified about seeing a note that she refused to call a "suicide note." Miller then played a 911 call made by the mother, who is an elementary school teacher in Winnetka. In the recording, she at first tells the operator it is a "disturbing note" and then later refers to it as "like a suicide note."

Khankhanian told Miller she only used the term "suicide" to get the attention of the authorities so they would help look for her son (she was unaware that by this time, he had already crashed the car and killed Emily). She said she feared her son, who had lost his job one or two days earlier,  was "too upset" and might say something inappropriate to somebody. She said he is unable to control himself at times, and gave an example that her son would tell a stranger with a bad odor that he smells rather than just walk past him.

The closing arguments, which are open to the public, are expected to begin today at 10 a.m. The Airport Courthouse is located at 1701 South La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles.