Hot Spot Cafe Quadruple Slaying Suspect Back in Court

The alleged Hot Spot Café killer, Nerses Arthur Galstyan, arrived at Van Nuys Courthouse Friday for a pre-trial hearing in the Valley Village quadruple homicide case.

Four men–Hayk Yegnanyan; Vardan Tofalyan; Sarkis Karadjian; and Harut Baburyan–. Galstyan was arrested near Seattle and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree.

The mother of 31-year-old Tofalyan told Patch that family members had held a memorial for him last Sunday, the first anniversary of the shooting.  She said that while the four families held separate events to commemorate the dead, they had all come together during the day to remember.

“We have a connection,” she said.

Nerses Arthur Galstyan entered the courtroom quickly for the hearing Friday and sat down without looking around. His parents were not in the audience, as they had been during the and .

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian told Judge Darlene Schempp that he had recently received subpoenaed documents from Sprint and Verizon, as well as the medical records of David Agazazryan from Cedars-Sinai. Agazazryan sustained facial injuries during the shooting. He was ordered to appear in court for Galystan’s arraignment and will be a witness at the trial. Balian said he would make the documents available to Galystan’s defense.

Defense attorney Andrew Flier told the court that he had employed two experts since the arraignment. Flier said that Dr. John Pride has been hired to examine the evidence, including the bullets and bullet cases found at the crime scene. The second expert, not named by Flier, will review the videotape evidence.

Flier held a CD aloft in the court and said that it contained a cellphone video pertaining to the case. Flier said that the expert would also look at footage from surveillance cameras at the Hot Spot Café, which is now called the Village Mediterranean Grille. 

Schempp scheduled Galstyan’s next court date for June 16.