The man charged with murder in the April 2010 death of 13-year-old Emily Shane will learn Thursday whether the charge will be reduced. His attorney expects a trial date to be set by Sept. 18.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The attorney for the man charged with murder in the April 2010 death of Malibu High School teen Emily Shane has filed a motion to reduce the charge to a lesser offense. Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader will review the motion at a hearing this Thursday at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles.
The defendant, 27-year-old Sina Khankhanian, is accused of intentionally striking Shane with his car as she walked along Pacific Coast Highway last April.
Khankhanian’s attorney, Bradley Brunon, said the second-degree murder charge should be reduced to gross vehicular manslaughter.
“My argument is that the evidence is insufficient to show that he intended to kill the girl,” Brunon told The Malibu Times in a telephone interview last week.
Second-degree murder is defined under California law as the intentional killing of another person but without premeditation. It carries a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment in state prison.
Gross vehicular manslaughter is the unintentional killing of another person, through gross negligence, while driving a motor vehicle. “Gross negligence” is defined as a reckless disregard for the safety of others and includes such acts as speeding, reckless driving and drunk driving. It carries a sentence of one to 10 years in a county jail or state prison.
Khankhanian has pled not guilty to the charge of murder in the death of Shane. The setting of a trial date has been delayed multiple times since a preliminary hearing in January while prosecution and defense reviewed psychological testing that Khankhanian has undergone.
Regardless of whether the murder charge is reduced, Brunon said he expected a trial date to be set within 10 days of the Sept. 8 hearing.
Shane died on April 3 last year, when Khankhanian allegedly drove his car off Pacific Coast Highway, hitting her as she walked home from a friend’s house. Superior Court judge Kathryn Solorzano told Khankhanian at the preliminary hearing in January that he exhibited a “wantonness and conscious disregard for life” in the hours leading up to Shane’s death.
Khankhanian’s girlfriend Mardi Martinez testified at the January hearing that he had expressed suicidal thoughts as early as 10 days before the crash. On April 3, Khankhanian left a two-page suicide note at the house he shared with Martinez, along with a check and a letter indicating he wanted to leave his finances to Martinez. He then drove off in his blue 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer, allegedly with the intent to end his life by crashing the car.
Several witnesses 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, where, in addition to striking Shane, the car collided with a power pole.
Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters who arrived after the accident testified that Khankhanian’s behavior at the crime scene was confrontational and profane. He told several law enforcement officers that he “meant to do it,” apparently referencing hitting the power pole on purpose. Witnesses also testified that Khankhanian expressed no remorse upon learning the girl had been killed in the crash.
Fire Capt. Todd Christie testified that Khankhanian told him he had consumed four glasses of wine, as well as four pills each of the prescription medications Klonopin and Ativan, which he said were prescribed to his girlfriend Martinez. Klonopin is used to treat seizure disorders or panic disorder. Ativan is used to treat anxiety or anxiety caused by severe depression. A paramedic who treated Khankhanian testified that Khankhanian said he also took Valium, which is used to treat anxiety disorders. Christie said he did not smell alcohol on Khankhanian’s breath.
Friends and family of Emily Shane gathered Aug. 10 at Vital Zuman Farm to celebrate what would have been Shane’s fifteenth birthday. A new street sign bearing the name “Emily Shane Way” was unveiled at the ceremony at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Heathercliff Road. Shane’s family has created a non-profit foundation called the Emily Shane Foundation in her honor. The foundation helps provide tutoring to students with learning disabilities. For more information about the foundation, go to www.emilyshane.org.