Thursday, December 17, 2009
Page 3
D.A.’s Office Considers Charging Karabian With Misdemeanor
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office is considering possible misdemeanor charges against former Democratic Assemblyman Walter Karabian, a local attorney, for allegedly attempting to run down a parking attendant before a Dec. 5 USC football game at the Coliseum.
A spokesperson for the office said that filing deputies in the East Los Angeles area office are reviewing the file and had made a request to the police department to interview an additional witness.
The District Attorney’s Office had previously declined to file felony charges against Karabian, 71, and last week referred the matter to the City Attorney’s Office for consideration.
Because the ex-lawmaker’s son, Benjamin Karabian, is a deputy city attorney, the City Attorney’s Office recused itself and returned the matter to the District Attorney’s Office.
Walter Karabian, a graduate of USC and USC’s law school, is a former deputy district attorney and was elected to the state Assembly from a Monterey Park district at the age of 28 in 1966.
At the age of 33, he became the youngest majority leader in the Assembly’s history and served a total of four terms before leaving politics in 1974 after a failed run for secretary of state and opening the law firm of Karns & Karabian in Monterey Park.
Karabian was taken into custody by officers from the Exposition Park Police Department shortly after noon on Dec. 5 and was released on $30,000 bail that evening.
The female parking attendant sustained minor injuries, a spokesperson from the District Attorney’s Office previously said.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company