Courtroom

Amber Willard GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE -- Local judges assure their courtrooms are different than those on television shows like "Judge Judy." "No judge would ever say those things. Don't think that you'll ever be treated that way," said Michael Mink, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in Burbank. Mink, along with seven other judges and commissioners in Glendale and Burbank, answered audience questions Tuesday at an event sponsored by the court system.

Adrian Vega and Toni Deluca were driving home on a mid-April night when their car struck bicyclist Cameron Douglas. But the matter of who was driving the car was the topic of debate that took over a Los Angeles courtroom this week. Both Vega and Deluca are high school swimmers, aspiring Olympians and hopeful UCLA athletes, and each insisted they were not behind the wheel. Their testimony, in fact, was given on behalf of a Crescenta Valley student and a Louisville High student pretending to be Vega and Deluca during the semifinals of the Los Angeles County mock trial competition this week.

Gary Moskowitz Eighteen-year-old Lili Melikian is using her artistic talents to seek out justice in the courtroom. The Clark Magnet High School senior is perfecting the skill of drawing courtroom sketches, and recently won first place at the 25th annual Los Angeles County Mock Trial Competition. "I was interested in becoming a real lawyer, but I thought drawing was cool and just kept doing it," Melikian said. "It is not the most exciting thing, but you are trying to capture emotions.

Bailiff had something against Capri pants I had an appointment on Sept. 27 to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Glendale. The "why" of it doesn't matter. On the courtroom door was a sign indicating that appropriate attire must be worn in court. OK, fine. I was wearing a tailored shirt and calf-length Capri pants. Upon entering the courtroom, the bailiff asked me to step outside. Whatever for, I wondered. Well, he asked me where I Iived.

Students in Glendale attorney Kathryn Van Houten's Introduction to Law class, offered to youths ages 16 and older by Glendale Unified School District, will conduct a mock trial on May 30 and June 1. The mock trial will begin at 4:30 each afternoon and end at 6 p.m. It will be in the courtroom of Glendale University of Law at 220 N. Glendale Ave. Students have been working since February to learn courtroom decorum and process through their...

Josh Kleinbaum Gus Gomez and Lori Jones both point to experience as the reason why they should be Superior Court judges. Gomez says his experience in both civil and criminal court makes him qualified for the position. Jones says that her job as district attorney requires more courtroom time than Gomez's job as a deputy attorney general, which makes her better suited to run a courtroom. Both have been pushing that message to voters as Tuesday's election approaches.

I read with interest the Dec. 10 article, "Glendale resident runs for judge's seat," about Commissioner Steven Lubell's intention to run for a Los Angeles Superior Court judge's seat being vacated by Judge David Finkel's retirement. I agree with the Glendale Police Officers Assn. opinion quoted in the article, that Commissioner Lubell is fair and destined to be a great judge. Jury service recently exposed me to courtroom trial proceedings conducted by Commissioner Lubell, and he is indeed one of those rare beings for whom the law applies to everybody on the principle that the law governs the affairs of a civilized society.

Ryan Carter Budget cuts in the state-funded Los Angeles Superior Court system might leave a courtroom that serves Burbank and Glendale with its lights out. Under cuts voted on last week by a committee of judges in response to a $57-million budget deficit, the juvenile traffic court serving this area is on the block to be shuffled from Glendale Superior Court, where it also serves Burbank residents, to Pasadena Superior...

Darleene Barrientos Eighteen months after claiming they were victims of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation at work, three female Glendale Police Department officers sat in a Los Angeles courtroom, anxiously awaiting a decision from the jury that had listened to arguments in their case for more than three months. After 15 days of deliberation, jurors reached their decision: They agreed with the women, and awarded them $3.5 million in damages.

Amber Willard PASADENA -- Although Michael Demirdjian is scheduled to be tried this month in the beating deaths of two boys on a playground, prosecutors said Tuesday that an investigation for other suspects is ongoing. Demirdjian, 15, was charged in July with the beating deaths of Blaine Talmo Jr. and Christopher McCulloch at Valley View Elementary School. The La Crescenta boy's attorney, Charles Mathews, has said Demirdjian witnessed the July 22 attack but did not participate.

Adrian Vega and Toni Deluca were driving home on a mid-April night when their car struck bicyclist Cameron Douglas. But the matter of who was driving the car was the topic of debate that took over a Los Angeles courtroom this week. Both Vega and Deluca are high school swimmers, aspiring Olympians and hopeful UCLA athletes, and each insisted they were not behind the wheel. Their testimony, in fact, was given on behalf of a Crescenta Valley student and a Louisville High student pretending to be Vega and Deluca during the semifinals of the Los Angeles County mock trial competition this week.

Bailiff had something against Capri pants I had an appointment on Sept. 27 to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Glendale. The "why" of it doesn't matter. On the courtroom door was a sign indicating that appropriate attire must be worn in court. OK, fine. I was wearing a tailored shirt and calf-length Capri pants. Upon entering the courtroom, the bailiff asked me to step outside. Whatever for, I wondered. Well, he asked me where I Iived.

The homeless man accused of shooting two police officers outside a busy Kmart earlier this month pleaded not guilty today to two counts of attempted murder. Police say Jamie Willard managed to reach around, grab an officer's gun and begin firing despite being handcuffed behind his back outside the Kmart on July 2. Willard answered to the charges in a Burbank courtroom after a two-week postponement. He showed no emotion in the courtroom as his attorney stood close by to advise and monitor his answers.

LOS ANGELES — A 16-year-old girl testified Monday in court that her uncle molested her several times starting when she was 7 years old. Her uncle, Donald Allen, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child and three felony counts of continuous sexual abuse. The incidents allegedly occurred over an 11-year period in which he is said to have sexually assaulted two nieces and his stepdaughter. Opening statements and witness testimony began Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

LOS ANGELES — A month after opening statements, when prosecutors said Juan Manuel Alvarez purposefully caused a 2005 train wreck that killed 11 people, Alvarez took the stand Tuesday, telling jurors he had no intention of killing anyone other than himself when he parked his Jeep Cherokee on the train tracks. “I was going to kill myself,” Alvarez said, dressed in a green shirt, beige pants and tie before he calmly told the nine-woman, three-man jury of his intentions, which went awry the morning of Jan. 26, 2005.

PASADENA — The family of Elizabeth Sandoval — the 24-year-old Glendale resident who was struck and killed by a car while jaywalking across South Glendale Avenue in July — came face to face for the first time Tuesday with her accused killer, his family and the Pasadena Superior courtroom where they will see the justice system play out for weeks to come. Sandoval’s accused killer, 20-year-old Ara Grigoryan, sat in a bright orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs Tuesday morning as attorneys asked for more time to develop their cases.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Gabriela Maldonado sat alone in a hallway Friday outside the courtroom where a coroner was describing, in detail, how her 17-year-old brother was bludgeoned to death nearly three years ago. She could not bear to listen. The prosecution rested its case three hours later in a Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom against three men charged with beating her brother, William Maldonado, to death on June 26, 2004. Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Bean took jurors through the brutal injuries William Maldonado sustained when Fredy Gudiel, Pedro Pena and William Torres allegedly used two baseball bats to beat him as he rode his bicycle down the 800 block of South Columbus Avenue.

Steven Gasparian wore a navy blue suit and a tie, and he carried a briefcase as he walked into the Wilson Middle School auditorium on Wednesday. The 13-year-old took out some papers from his briefcase and studied them to prepare for his role as prosecuting attorney. Steven was one of about 190 students who took part in the school's annual Windsor Castle Crime Scene Investigation Project. The project requires students to participate in a mock trial that is the result of a "crime" committed at school.

GLENDALE — While courtrooms are common ground for most law enforcement officers, two Glendale detectives found themselves in unfamiliar territory recently as they watched the accused killer of a 24-year-old Glendale woman tried in a juryless courtroom in Armenia. Glendale Police detectives Craig Tweedy and Tigran Topadzhikyan traveled to Armenia on Aug. 20 with Shagen Tsaturyan, the father of slain Odet Tsaturyan, to observe the trial. It lasted only two days. Artur Khanzadyan — who fled to Armenia days after his girlfriend was strangled and stuffed in the trunk of his car — was found guilty of murder with the act of jealousy and sentenced to 10 years in an Armenian prison on Aug 25. Glendale Police tried to get Khanzadyan returned to the United States for trial, but U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Armenia.

Students in Glendale attorney Kathryn Van Houten's Introduction to Law class, offered to youths ages 16 and older by Glendale Unified School District, will conduct a mock trial on May 30 and June 1. The mock trial will begin at 4:30 each afternoon and end at 6 p.m. It will be in the courtroom of Glendale University of Law at 220 N. Glendale Ave. Students have been working since February to learn courtroom decorum and process through their...