The family of a teenage girl charged in connection with the murder of 15-year-old Deanna Maran of Santa Monica may have had a double at Friday’s court proceedings in the case.
The presence of a double, used as a decoy, may have been an attempt to deflect attention from the growing national interest in the story from media outlets like the New York Times, Dateline NBC and ABC’s Good Morning America.
It also may have been an attempt to protect the defendant’s identity.
While the media was stationed outside the Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse Friday morning, the mother of the 15-year-old facing one count of battery in connection with Maran’s Nov. 17 murder, walked into the building with an unidentified girl believed to be her daughter, the defendant.
However, Maran’s parents, who were in the courtroom, said the girl accompanied by Angelique Bernstein and an attorney, wasn’t the defendant — though she looked almost like her. They both wore long, blonde hair in a braid, were dressed alike and were similar in build, the Marans noted.
The girl who had entered the building with Bernstein and the attorney exited alone, causing the media to focus on her for filming and photographs.
An unidentified woman scolded the media earlier for taking photographs of the girl who she described as her daughter. She was nowhere to be found when the possible decoy left the building escorted by a bailiff.
The Marans, Harriet and Ilja, said the defendant didn’t exit the building the same way they did after she was arraigned.
By the judge’s order, the press was not allowed inside the court room.
Deputy district attorney Rebecca Noblin said the woman who scolded the media told her she was concerned about the press taking pictures of her daughter and that they were friends of the Bernstein’s.
“I didn’t watch (the defendant) walk through the building,” Noblin said. “This is supposed to be a juvenile proceeding anyway.”
The defendant’s attorney, Gary Casselman wouldn’t confirm that a double was used. He urged that no photos be taken of the accused teenager because she is a juvenile.
The 15-year-old, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, was allegedly involved in Maran’s Nov. 17 murder. She allegedly kicked Maran while her half-sister, Katrina Sarkissian, reportedly stabbed her at a party in an upscale Westwood neighborhood. Sarkissian died while in police custody the day after the murder from an overdose of anti-depressants.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.