Witnesses say others are responsible in Maran murder
Charges were filed Tuesday against a 15-year-old Brentwood girl for her alleged role in the Nov. 17 murder of Santa Monica high school student Deanna Maran.
The girl, who will be tried as a juvenile, has been charged with one count of battery and one count of making a terrorist threat. The first charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail. Making a terrorist threat is a felony and carries a maximum of three years in prison.
However, those penalties apply to criminal law for adults, not juveniles. The punishment likely will be less severe, said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Rebbeca Noblin.
“Criminal law for adults is concerned with punishment and juvenile is interested in rehabilitation,” she said.
“Criminal law for adults is concerned with punishment and juvenile is interested in rehabilitation.” — See MARAN, page 3 — REBECCA NOBLIN Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney
She added that some courts are now recognizing that juveniles should be treated as adults in some cases if they are viewed as criminals before they become adults.
The girl, whose name is withheld because she is a juvenile, will be arraigned on April 26 in Inglewood Juvenile Court.
The 15-year-old allegedly held Maran down while her half-sister, 17-year-old Katrina Sarkissian allegedly attacked and stabbed her at a party where dozens of people looked on — some of whom prevented anyone from rescuing Maran.
Sarkissian died of an overdose while in police custody the day after the murder, the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office ruled in February.
Maran was stabbed with a knife after she found the 15-year-old girl breaking potted plants behind an upscale Westwood home where the party was held. Maran told her to stop, but the girl began fighting with Maran. Partygoers broke up the confrontation but another one ensued after Sarkissian and her friends showed up at the party.
But based on witnesses’ accounts in the press, there were others involved in Maran’s murder that have escaped justice and Los Angeles Police probing.
According to several teenagers who saw the fight escalate, Maran was allegedly jumped by Sarkissian, the 15-year-old and a Santa Monica high school senior who has since dropped out of Santa Monica High School.
They allegedly pinned Maran down to the ground, beat her and stabbed her while older, college students prevented some of her friends from helping. Sarkissian is believed to have been the one who stabbed Maran.
Maran’s friends drove her to Santa Monica Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. on Nov. 18.
Sarkissian and the 15-year-old were arrested about 14 hours later. But after collapsing while being questioned by police, Sarkissian was rushed to UCLA Medical Center and died at 5:26 p.m., police said.
Families of the accused could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors and investigators have been gathering evidence against the 15-year-old for the past four months, which they say has been difficult because so many of the witnesses were chemically induced and are teenagers.
But Maran’s mother, Harriet Maran, continues to seek justice.
For months, she has received information from teenagers at the party that suggests many more people than just the two Brentwood girls are responsible for her 15-year-old daughter’s murder.
Harriet Maran wonders just how hard LAPD detectives tried to gather evidence if students who witnessed the murder are willing to publicly say that others helped kill her daughter. She’s concerned that not all of the information has gotten to the prosecutors by the detectives assigned to the case.
“Whatever they are fed is whatever they are fed,” she said, adding she thinks the charges that have been filed against the 15-year-old Brentwood girl are weak.
Harriet Maran and her husband, Ilja Maran, who live in the Ocean Park neighborhood, were just brought into the process a month ago. The parents of the high achieving and popular sophomore have had little contact with LAPD detectives and prosecutors.
Harriet Maran has told the Daily Press in the past that she is also frustrated and disappointed that she hasn’t been contacted by either the family of the girls who allegedly attacked and murdered her daughter or the owners of the house where the killing occurred.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 3, 2002. Read the original PDF.