Jury Deadlocks on Death Penalty for Man Who Killed His Family

PASADENA —  Unable to agree whether an Iranian immigrant was suffering from delusions when he murdered his wife and six children in an early morning arson fire in 1996, jurors deadlocked Wednesday on the question of whether he deserves the death penalty for his crime.

Half the jury thought Jorjik Avanesian, 43, was mentally ill, wrongfully believing that his wife and eldest daughters were involved with drugs and acting in pornographic movies and asserting that his prayers told him he should kill them all.

The other half agreed with prosecutors that Avanesian was a calculating murderer who knew exactly what he was doing and should be executed even though he may have developed mental problems after realizing the horrors he has done.

“Personally, I thought he knew what he was doing,” said one 23-year-old juror from El Monte who voted for death and asked that her name not be published. “He made every effort to make sure what he was doing was going to prevail.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eleanor Hunter, who quickly left the courtroom after speaking privately with jurors, did not return a call seeking comment.

Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Avanesian on the question of penalty. That decision is expected to be revealed at a hearing next month. If prosecutors decide against a retrial, Avanesian will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Deputy Public Defender Stanley Perlo, who represented Avanesian, said his client is clearly insane and should be imprisoned forever, not executed.

“We’re not claiming any great victory. He did all this,” Perlo said outside the courtroom after the hearing. “I just do not see giving the death penalty to someone who is so mentally impaired.”

He said Avanesian’s reaction to being told that the judge had declared a mistrial was to yawn. He asked no questions and was led back to the lockup.

Perlo said his client’s delusions began with his belief that his wife was involved in drugs and sex, and that they then spread further and further. At various points, he said, his client has said the Iranian mafia, the Glendale police, his lawyer and court translators were conspiring against him.

Perlo said he tried to convince Avanesian to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, but the defendant refused because he said he was not crazy.

The jury, which in slightly more than an hour of deliberations convicted Avanesian of murdering his wife and six children and setting an arson fire, had more difficulty with the question of whether he deserved the ultimate punishment.

Two psychiatrists hired by the defense testified that he suffered from delusions, although they disagreed somewhat as to whether Avanesian was insane at the time of the crime.

One testified that he was insane the entire time while another testified that he was insane only part of the time, according to Perlo.

The defendant’s mental health has been an issue in the case from the start.

At one point, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Janice Croft found Avanesian was mentally unfit to aid in his defense. But after some psychiatric treatment, she decided he was competent to stand trial.

Perlo said that while medicated, Avanesian is so pliant he will agree to anything. The only issue he continues to bring up is whether “his family is really dead. I’m not sure he completely believes that,” Perlo said.

In an unusual move, Hunter, the prosecutor, did not call any witnesses in the penalty phase, arguing principally that the circumstances of the crime were enough to merit Avanesian’s execution.

“Look at the callousness of the defendant’s actions,” she told the jury during her closing argument. “He is watching his kids burn to death--and his wife--and he did absolutely nothing” to help them. She said the defendant planned the crime in advance, buying gasoline and a knife and ax to hack his children to bits so they would be spared the horror of burning to death.

Then he hid his implements of death in the laundry room and waited until his wife and children were asleep to strategically place kitchen pots filled with gasoline around the house, blocking their exit and igniting them with a cigarette lighter, Hunter said.

As his family cried out for help, Avanesian left the burning apartment house, ignoring strangers who were trying desperately to get inside and save them, hid his weapons and walked about a block away to watch the fire. The family died of smoke inhalation.

All because his 37-year-old wife wouldn’t give him a divorce, Hunter told jurors.

“This is not a man acting under delusions,” Hunter told jurors. “He knew what he was doing.”

She also brought up that Avanesian had thrown a chair at one child and threatened another with a knife in the weeks preceding the murders.

After deliberating about eight hours over the last four days, jurors returned Wednesday morning and individually told Pasadena Superior Court Judge Janice Croft they had discussed the issues thoroughly and there was no hope of reaching a unanimous verdict.

The 23-year-old juror said one point that proved to her that Avanesian was sane when he burned his family was that he had prayed for guidance the night before.

“He was asking God, so in his mind he knew he was doing wrong,” she said.

She said she also believed God eventually answered his prayers. As he was getting ready to set the fire, Avanesian told authorities, his youngest child awoke.

“I believe God did send him a sign by his little boy waking up,” she said. “He just didn’t heed the sign.”