The trial, in which 28-year-old Sina Khankhanian faces a charge of second-degree murder, began Jan. 17. The prosecution rested Monday and the defense began calling witnesses Tuesday.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The trial for Sina Khankhanian, the 28-year-old man charged in the April 2010 death of 13-year-old Emily Shane, began Tuesday last week and included a surprise Friday afternoon when Emily’s father, Michel Shane, took the stand to testify.
With television cameras from CBS 2 and KCAL 9 rolling, Shane spoke about how he passed the scene of the accident late in the afternoon on April 3, 2010 on his way to Pavilions grocery store to pick up his daughter from a sleep-over.
“I literally saw the accident, it must have just happened a couple minutes before,” Shane told The Malibu Times Saturday. “And I went, ‘Oh my god that’s where Emily was,’ and you know, you never think stuff like that happens to you. It’s always happening to the other guy.”
Shane said Khankhanian’s attorney, Bradley Brunon, asked Judge Katherine Mader not to allow his testimony because Brunon said it would create an emotional situation that might influence the jury. But Mader allowed Shane to testify on a limited basis.
Emily Shane died on April 3, 2010 when an allegedly suicidal Khankhanian struck her with his car as she walked along Pacific Coast Highway just south of Heathercliff Road. The collision caused Shane to fly 30 feet in the air, while Khankhanian’s car later collided with a power pole and rolled several times.
Michel Shane testified that he was on his way to pick up his daughter at Pavilions grocery store when he saw an accident near Heathercliff, but kept going. When he got to the grocery store his daughter was not in front. Shane said he walked around the store. When he could not find her, he sent her a text message and later called her phone, but both went unanswered.
Shane was not allowed to testify about speaking with a sheriff’s deputy who told Shane his daughter had been injured.
Shane told The Malibu Times he did not know he was going to testify until Friday morning, and that it was a coincidence that the television cameras were filming that day.
The prosecution finished calling witnesses Monday, and rested its case after the testimony of a homeless man who had just got off a bus when he saw Emily Shane be hit by the car. The defense began calling witnesses Tuesday.
In addition to Michel Shane, other witnesses included motorists who testified to Khankhanian’s reckless driving on a 17-mile stretch that included Topanga Canyon Boulevard, then north on Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu until the accident near the intersection with Heathercliff Road.
Another witness was a car expert hired by Mitsubishi who did an analysis on Khankhanian’s car and determined that the cause of the accident was not a mechanical malfunction but rather the driver.
Emergency personnel from the county Fire Department testified Friday about arriving on the scene and encountering the severely injured girl and Khankhanian, who was allegedly belligerent and profane when questioned by the emergency officials.
Khankhanian faces a charge of second-degree murder in Shane’s death, to which he has pled not guilty. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 15 years to life in a state prison.
Prosecutor Marna Miller argued in opening statements Tuesday last week that Khankhanian is guilty because he was mad and he “consciously disregarded the safety of everyone around him,” according to CBS 2 News.
Brunon argued that the charge should be reduced to the lesser sentence of gross vehicular manslaughter because Khankhanian has a mental disability that prevented him from being aware that he was endangering other people.
Brunon says his client suffers from autism and Tourette syndrome, and that when the accident occurred he was not aware of his actions. Autism is a developmental disorder that impairs a person’s ability to form normal social relationships and communicate with others. Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent involuntary tics, both body movements such as eye blinks and grimaces, and vocal tics such as utterance of inappropriate words.
Khankhanian was fired from his job working at an animal clinic shortly before the day of the fatal crash. Khankhanian’s former fiancee, Mardi Martinez, has testified that Khankhanian mentioned suicidal thoughts to her in the days leading to the crash, and that Khankhanian left a suicide note in his house the day of the crash.