Pubdate: Sat, 07 Apr 2001
Source: Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Daily News of Los Angeles
Contact: http://www.DailyNews.com/contact/letters.asp
Website: http://www.DailyNews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246
Author: Holly Edwards, Staff Writer
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n592/a11.html

STORY OF BOYS' DEATHS SHIFTS

PASADENA -- Confronted with a barrage of questions from prosecutors, a 
16-year-old boy charged with murdering two acquaintances on an elementary 
school playground contradicted his own testimony Friday and claimed long 
memory lapses as he tried to explain the events preceding the slayings.

Michael Demirdjian also said several witnesses lied when they testified in 
Pasadena Superior Court that he had been the victim of a drug deal rip-off 
and was trying to get his money back.

The La Crescenta teen is charged with the first-degree murder, torture and 
robbery of Christopher McCulloch, 13, and Blaine Talmo Jr., 14, whose 
bludgeoned bodies were found July 23 at Valley View Elementary School in 
Glendale.

Demirdjian has pleaded not guilty to the charges, insisting that he 
witnessed a Glendale drug dealer kill the boys with a large rock after the 
foursome had smoked marijuana and drank wine together.

While Demirdjian initially testified that Adam Walker, 19, killed the boys 
several hours after selling him a $40 bag of marijuana, on Friday he gave 
two different versions of the drug sale.

He testified that Walker had, in fact, sold Talmo a $20 bag of marijuana on 
the night of the killings. Later, while trying to explain a series of phone 
calls to a friend named Damian Kim, Demirdjian changed his story again by 
saying Walker had not sold them any marijuana at all that night.

"I called Damian because I wanted to see if I could get some marijuana 
because Adam didn't have any," he said.

Walker was among several teens arrested after the murders but was 
ultimately released for lack of evidence.

Demirdjian also testified that he didn't remember why he phoned Kim 47 
times in the two weeks preceding the murders, and admitted that he lied to 
investigators when he said Walker was not with the three boys on the night 
of the murders.

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Steve Barshop, 
Demirdjian described removing his blood-stained clothes and shoes when he 
returned home on the night of the killings. He said he rinsed them out in 
the sink, put them in the trash can in his bedroom, threw them in the 
washing machine the following day, and finally tossed them into a trash can 
in front of his house -- along with Talmo's wallet and alarm clock.

"I just threw them away. I don't know what I was thinking," Demirdjian 
said. "I was scared."

Displaying images of choking techniques, Barshop asked Demirdjian why 
records stored in his computer showed he had downloaded those images from 
the Internet on the day after the killings.

"I had them on my computer a long time ago," he said. "It said when you 
smoke marijuana and it's in your lungs, it said you could get higher or 
something when you're choking."

Two friends of Demirdjian also contradicted testimony offered by the defendant.

Alex Djagharbekian, 16, testified that Demirdjian said someone had cheated 
him out of $500 to $600 in a marijuana deal and that he was trying to get 
his money back.

"He said he chased him in his car, but he couldn't catch up to him," 
Djagharbekian said. "And he said that the guy better watch his back because 
the 18th Street Gang is after him."

And while Demirdjian testified that several calls made from his cell phone 
to a number in Las Vegas were to Djagharbekian, who was on vacation with 
his family, Djagharbekian testified that he was not in Las Vegas that week.

"He asked me how to get to Las Vegas on a Greyhound bus because he was 
planning to go," Djagharbekian said.

The defense is expected to conclude its case Monday, and final arguments 
are expected to begin.
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