Indictment Unsealed in Deaths of 7

GLENDALE —  Moving swiftly to bring to trial a father who confessed to setting his apartment afire, killing his wife and six children, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office unsealed a murder and arson indictment Tuesday.

Jorjik Avanesian, 40, was arraigned in Superior Court on Tuesday after prosecutors unsealed the secret eight-count indictment returned by the county grand jury Friday after a half-day hearing.

The indictment allows prosecutors to take the case against Avanesian directly to Superior Court for trial without a potentially lengthy preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial.

Avanesian pleaded not guilty and was ordered to appear in Pasadena Superior Court on March 18, when a trial date will be set.

He faces seven counts of murder and one count of arson in the Feb. 6 fire that police say he has confessed to setting after years of anger at his wife.

Although those charges carry a possible death penalty, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McCormick said it has not yet been decided whether to seek Avanesian’s execution. McCormick said the district attorney’s special circumstance committee will make that decision.

His attorney, Stan Perlo, declined comment on how he intended to defend the case.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported that Avanesian was assaulted by a fellow inmate on his way back to jail from his court appearance Tuesday. Deputy Benita Nichol said a prisoner who was handcuffed to Avanesian in the inmate reception center managed to strike him twice in the face before being subdued by a deputy with pepper spray.

No motive was determined, Nichol said, and no special protection for Avanesian was planned.

Avanesian is charged with killing his wife, Turan, 37, and their six children, ages 4 to 17. The family immigrated from Iran, settling in Glendale in September. Several people have said Avanesian told them that he wanted to hurt his wife because he thought she was taking an aphrodisiac drug and having sex with other men.

McCormick said he decided to take the case to the grand jury to save time and spare relatives of the seven victims the emotional pain of testifying twice. He said he hoped the speedy process would help the healing process of family members who are under enormous stress.

Avanesian’s sister, Maro Ovanesyan, is expected to be a key witness. According to police, she phoned authorities when her brother ran to her home--only a few blocks from his own apartment--moments after setting the predawn fire. Avanesian left her house before police arrived, however, and later turned himself at the office of a Persian-language newspaper in Encino.

McCormick declined to discuss the grand jury testimony. Transcripts are expected to be released in 10 days.

Witnesses in grand juries are not subject to cross-examination.

Although grand jury indictments are far less common than preliminary hearings, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said the quicker route to trial has been used more frequently since voters approved Proposition 115 in 1990.

Once the most common way to trial, grand jury indictments virtually fell out of use after the state Supreme Court ruled that defendants could demand a preliminary hearing as well, effectively requiring prosecutors to go through the same process twice even before going to trial, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

After Proposition 115, known as the Victims’ Bill of Rights, made indictments equal to preliminary hearings, the indictment quickly came back into favor, Gibbons said.

Today, prosecutors usually go to the grand jury with complex cases such as fraud, high-profile cases, and multiple victim or defendant cases, Gibbons said.

Use of the indictment still remains limited by the volume of criminal cases that can be handled by the county’s one grand jury, which also performs a civic watchdog role, Gibbons said.

Turan Avanesian and her six children will be buried Friday after a 1 p.m. ceremony in the 1,200-seat Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park Hollywood Hills, cemetery spokesman Dick Fisher said.

After the service, which will be conducted in English and Armenian, a procession is scheduled to Vale of Hope at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, where the victims will be buried in individual graves, the mother in the center with three children on each side.

Fisher said the number of caskets was “unprecedented” for a single funeral at Forest Lawn.

Costs for the funeral are being underwritten by the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank and a fund established by the Armenian Relief Society of Glendale. So far, $5,000 in donations has been received, Louisa Gourjian, the society’s assistant director said. The fund will assist future victims of family violence, particularly battered women, she said.

* Times staff writer Brett Collins contributed to this story.