Friday, January 8, 2010
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D.A.’s Office Files Charge of Assault Against Karabian
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office yesterday filed a misdemeanor charge of assault with a deadly weapon against local attorney and former Democratic Assemblyman Walter Karabian for allegedly hitting a parking attendant with his car during a USC football game last month.
The 71-year-old Karabian is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 22 at the East Los Angeles Superior Court, Department K. If convicted, he faces up to a year in county jail.
Karabian allegedly tried to drive his car into a parking structure at Exposition Park at around noon on Dec. 5 but was stopped by an attendant who told him he did not have the proper permit.
After being refused entry, he allegedly drove his car forward, striking the parking attendant—identified in the complaint as Yventte Bueno—several times.
The woman was not seriously injured but was taken to the hospital and Karabian was taken into custody by officers from the Exposition Park Police Department. He was released on $30,000 bail that evening.
The District Attorney’s Office declined to file felony charges last month and referred the case to the City Attorney’s Office. However, because the ex-lawmaker’s son, Benjamin Karabian, is a deputy city attorney, that office recused itself and returned the matter to the District Attorney’s Office.
The elder Karabian 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. He became the youngest majority leader in the Assembly’s history at the age of 33, and served four terms before leaving politics in 1974 after a failed run for secretary of state.
He is a graduate of college and law school at USC, and a name partner at Karns & Karabian in Monterey Park.
Karabian did not return a call for comment.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company