Alleged Hot Spot Cafe Killer to Face Trial, Judge Rules

Nerses Arthur Galstyan, accused in last year's in Valley Village, will stand trial in the killings, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Karen Nudell ruled Thursday.

Issuing her decision on the second day of Galstyan's two-day preliminary hearing, Nudell ruled that there was enough evidence in the case for Galstyan, 27, to stand trial on murder charges.

The shooting occurred on April 3, 2010, when a group of friends and family members reportedly gathered at the Hot Spot Cafe on Riverside Drive after a memorial service. A shooting occured that left four men dead: Hayk Yegnanyan, 25; Vardan Tofalyan, 31; Sarkis Karadjian, 26: and Harut Baburyan, 28, the district attorney's office reported. Galstyan was later arrested near Seattle, WA, and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, said the DA's office in a statement. Two other men were wounded in the attack.

The preliminary hearing took place in a secure courtroom where glass panels separated the defendant from the public area. His parents were in the courtroom both days, as were about a dozen friends and relatives of the four slain men. The proceedings were often punctuated by the sound of women sobbing.

On Wednesday, the first day, Galstyan, a large man with dark brown hair and a goatee, walked into the courtroom without looking out at the audience. On the second day, he nodded briefly at his parents.

Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian called a total of five witnesses during the hearing. Two of them claimed that they had seen Galstyan open fire in the banquet room of the Hot Spot. Balian also called a restaurant employee, as well as Diana Paul, an LAPD criminalist and firearms expert.

One witness to the shooting, Sarkis Terzyan, described seeing his friend, who had been shot, lying on the floor. "He was lifeless. I looked right in his eyes and saw him dead."

Another witness, Nshan Nordshkharyan, identified Galstyan as the gunman, saying, "I saw him walk in and start shooting." He said he saw his best friend immediately after the shooting, who had sustained severe injuries to his eye and jaw. He also showed the court the scar from a bullet wound that he said he had sustained during the shooting. According to the witness, the bullet was lodged too close to his spine to be removed with safety.

Andrew Flier, Galstyan's lawyer, questioned why the two who claimed to have seen Galstyan shooting had initially told police that they did not know the identity of the killer. The two responded separately that they had done so out of fear. The first eyewitness admitted that he was not initially honest because, he said, "I was confused, scared, worried about the safety of my family."

At the summing up, Flier said that he believed that the witnesses' credibility was suspect because their accounts of the crime differed over time.

The prosecution and defense repeatedly asked the eyewitnesses whether they had seen any signs of dispute, violence or weaponry before the shooting took place. They both replied in the negative.

Fifty bullet cases were recovered from the cafe's banquet room. According to Paul, they all came from the same gun. That weapon has not been found. She confirmed that none of the cases could be definitively linked to two guns found on the dead bodies of Karadjian and Baburyan, which suggests that only one gun was fired during the shooting.

Galstyan's arraignment is set for Feb. 24.