1 Of 2 Insulting Text Case Murder Convictions Reversed

LOS ANGELES, CA — A state appeals court panel upheld a man's murder and conspiracy conviction in the November 2009 shooting death of a Granada Hills man over an insulting text message, but ordered that a second defendant's conviction be reversed unless the prosecution agrees to reduce it from first- degree murder to second-degree murder.

In a 78-page ruling released this week, the three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that there was "extremely strong motive evidence" in the case against Zareh Manjikian and Vahagn Jurian, who were found guilty of the Nov. 18, 2009, slaying of Gombert "Mike" Yepremyan.

Yepremyan was struck in the face and then shot in the back of the head with a 9 mm handgun during the confrontation in a Sears parking lot at the intersection of Victory and Laurel Canyon boulevards in North Hollywood.

The appellate court panel affirmed Manjikian's conviction for first- degree murder and conspiracy, finding that "the evidence fairly showed that at some point before pulling the trigger, Manjikian made a decision to shoot Yepremyan, thus providing the element of premeditation and deliberation."

The justices agreed that Manjikian's case can be sent back to the trial court in Van Nuys solely so the judge can determine whether or not to strike a firearm use enhancement against Manjikian that resulted in his sentence initially being doubled from 25 years to life to 50 years to life.

Citing an instructional error, the justices noted that Jurian's first- degree murder conviction must be reversed unless the prosecution agrees to accept a reduction of the conviction to second-degree murder. Otherwise, the prosecution can retry Jurian for first-degree murder on a "direct aiding and abetting theory" rather than the natural and probable consequences doctrine, the appellate court justices ruled.

Jurian had been serving a 25-year-to-life term for the killing.

The appellate court justices also rejected the defense's contention that there was insufficient evidence to prove that co-defendant Khatun Vardanian was a member of the conspiracy to commit assault against Yepremyan. She and her brother, Hovik Dzhuryan, were each convicted of conspiracy and sentenced in 2012 to 270 days in county jail, five years probation and 1,000 hours of community service, but he eventually abandoned his appeal.

The appellate court justices found that jurors could reasonably have concluded that Vardanian -- who had been "gravely insulted" by being referred to as a "bitch" in a text message that Yepremyan had sent to his girlfriend, who was a friend of Vardanian's -- contacted her brother for assistance in retaliating against him, and that Dzhuryan reached out to Jurian, who was their cousin. Jurian then reached out to his friend, Manjikian, and "filled him in about the nature of Yepremyan's insulting text," the panel found.

"There is no doubt that the jury could have drawn a reasonable inference that animus toward Yepremyan, caused by his insulting message, gave rise to a motive to kill," the panel's ruling says.

The four were indicted in September 2011 by a Los Angeles County grand jury.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock