Calling him a vicious murderer, a judge Monday sentenced 16-year-old Michael Hrayr Demirdjian to a lifetime behind bars for bludgeoning two teenage boys on a La Crescenta playground.
"Sir, you've committed a crime like a man, and now you'll be treated and punished as a man," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen said. Demirdjian received two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for killing Christopher McCulloch, 13, and Blaine Talmo Jr., 14.
Demirdjian quietly told the judge he didn't kill the boys, whose bloody and battered bodies were found July 23, 2000, at Valley View Elementary School.
But relatives and friends of the victims said they didn't believe him.
Blaine Talmo's father criticized Demirdjian for "not showing any remorse, no emotions [and] the constant lying."
Holding up a large photo of McCulloch, his mother, Aileen Bristow, said: "Today, tomorrow and the rest of my life will not include my son. . . . As the shock wears off and reality sets in, the pain only increases."
Others in the courtroom wept as she spoke. Bristow added that she hoped Demirdjian would ask God for forgiveness.
Demirdjian was found guilty of first-degree murder in November after a retrial. Although prosecutors announced on the day of his conviction that more teenage suspects would be arrested, they refused to discuss the prospect Monday.
"What about them?" said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Barshop, when asked about the youths he and Deputy Dist. Atty. Truc Do repeatedly had named as suspects in the case and whose photos they displayed to jurors during both trials.
"If one day the police bring us a case, we'll evaluate it," Barshop said. "That's how it works."
Glendale police said they are still investigating the slayings.
"We have been working closely with the D.A.'s office on this case from the very beginning," said Sgt. Ian Grimes, supervisor of the investigation.
Prosecutors argued during both trials that the boys' deaths resulted from a botched drug deal. Demirdjian and another teenager, Damian Kim, tried to buy $660 worth of marijuana from a dealer named Adam Walker, who took their money without producing the drugs, prosecutors said. Testimony revealed that in the week before the killings, Demirdjian, Kim and others set traps to lure Walker out of hiding to get their money back.
