Prosecutor to Jury: Hold Suicidal Driver Accountable in Death of Emily Shane

A man accused in the death of a 13-year-old Malibu girl should be held responsible for his actions, a prosecutor told a jury Wednesday in the retrial of a man accused of driving recklessly on Pacific Coast Highway before slamming his sports car into the teenager two years ago.

But the attorney for Sina Khankhanian asked jurors to be wary of snapping to any judgments in the case, adding that his client, who was diagnosed with autism, could not appreciate that his actions created a risk of death for himself and others.

The attorneys’ comments came on the first day of the retrial for Khankhanian, who faces a second-degree murder charge, at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles.

If convicted, Khankhanian would face a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison. A jury earlier this year was unable to reach a verdict after an eight-day trial.

On Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Marna Miller said Khankhanian left a suicide note and a check for his then-fiancé before taking off on a 17-mile drive that started on Topanga Canyon Road and ended up near Heathercliff Road, where Emily was waiting to be picked up by her father.

“Unfortunately at mile 17, he killed Emily,” Miller told the four-woman, eight-man jury.

She added that the jury will hear about Khankhanian’s autism diagnosis, but to keep in mind that he held a steady job for five years before being fired a few days before the crash.

“The defense is going to ask you to excuse the actions of Mr. Khankhanian. However, the people are going to ask you to hold the defendant liable and accountable for his actions and convict him of murder based on the evidence that you hear,” Miller said.

In his statements, Khankhanian’s attorney, Bradley Brunon, laid out a roadmap of evidence for jurors to look for during the case.

Brunon asked jurors not to take statements  -- made by his client at the scene of the crash that he had hoped both he and said would die – at face value.

He added that jurors would hear from neuropsychologist Mary Elizabeth Large about Khankhanian’s form of developmental disorder.