Child-Murder Case Comes to a Grim Close

VAN NUYS â€”  A Superior Court judge sentenced convicted killer Hooman Ashkan Panah to death on Monday, bringing a bitterly fought and wrenching child-murder case to a close.

While a dozen Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies ringed the courtroom, Judge Sandy R. Kriegler affirmed a jury’s verdict that Panah, a 23-year-old former Pierce College student, should be executed for sodomizing and murdering Nicole Parker, a second-grader who disappeared while visiting her father’s Woodland Hills apartment complex on Nov. 20, 1993.

As he pronounced sentence, Kriegler described the case as one of the most difficult he’s handled. He called it “a horror beyond description.�

The judge was unmoved by a rambling, 17-page statement that Panah read aloud. Panah referred to himself as a suffering, suicidal “young boy� soon to “be awarded the status of a dead boy.�

“I am not a murderer and I’m not a child molester,� Panah insisted, adding, “I have never had any sexual desires for kids.�

After rejecting a defense appeal for a new trial, Kriegler responded: “This case is different, probably because it was a young girl who was killed. It’s different because everybody felt she was safe where she was.�

The judge added that the grief felt by the Parker family, as well as Panah’s “unspeakable conduct,� contributed to the emotions stirred by the trial.

“This is a bad man who deserves everything he’s going to get,� Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter S. Berman said of Panah. Outside court, the prosecutor added that during the trial, Panah once blew kisses at him from a courtroom holding cell.

As they have for months, the families of the killer and victim traded insults Monday in and out of court.

As Panah was led from the courtroom, his mother, Mehri Monfared, turned to the victim’s mother and shouted, “Mrs. Lori Parker, you’d better go to find the real murderer. Your crying is finished. Your acting is finished.�

Panah’s two-month trial began late last year and climaxed Jan. 23 with a jury’s recommendation that he be put to death. Several times, Lori Parker expressed her desire that Panah be executed. In December, after her son was found guilty of murder, Monfared was carried from the courtroom, wailing that he was innocent and was being persecuted because he is Iranian.

And so it was again Monday.

“I would like you to know I hate Hooman Panah,� Lori Parker told Kriegler. “He abducted, molested, raped, sodomized and robbed my little girl, Nicole, of her precious little life.�

Nicole, 8, was playing with a softball when she disappeared from the courtyard of Ed Parker’s gated apartment complex in Woodland Hills. The parents, then separated, are now divorced. Hundreds of people joined the search for Nicole, which ended 36 hours later when her body was found stuffed in a suitcase hidden under laundry in Panah’s closet.

Lori Parker added Monday in court, “In the last 15 months, I have been searching for a name to label Panah--is he an animal, an insect, a monster? Those names are too good for him since animals and insects only kill for survival.�

The judge abruptly cut her off, admonishing her to avoid “name-calling� and other inflammatory statements.

A few minutes later, however, Lori Parker said she hoped Panah would die “at the hands of other inmates,� the way Wisconsin serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer did.

The victim’s brother, 18-year-old Travis Parker, asked the judge why he should have to wait 10 to 20 years for the state “to get around to� executing Panah.

“Why can’t any one of these deputies draw his or her service revolver and shoot Mr. Panah in the head a few times?� Parker asked. “I’m sure any number of these deputies would be able to carry out this task and are willing to do so.�

In turn, Panah claimed he was beaten by police and fellow prisoners. He also said police taunted, threatened and tortured him.

Panah had slashed his wrists and swallowed a bottle of over-the-counter pain medication after Nicole’s murder.

He described the efforts to revive him as a form of torture. Later, he said he was confined to a windowless room in the jail hospital, wearing only a diaper.

Still, he said he would accept his fate. “What can you do to me that I haven’t already tried to do to myself?� he asked, referring to several suicide attempts. “My life must be sacrificed here, and it already is of very little value. I know the only alternatives here are death or victory.�

He turned to the Parkers, who sat in the front row of the courtroom, and said: “To whomever wants to see me dead, here I am with my heart to give you as a gift.�

He then told the Parkers he loved them.

Like every death-penalty case, Panah’s will automatically be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Defense attorney Robert M. Sheahen said after the hearing that Panah’s mood was “surprisingly upbeat.�

Monfared, 47, a former Farsi-language television talk show host, left the courtroom shouting that her son had been framed. During the trial, she portrayed herself as an abusive and controlling parent who beat, belittled, slept with and showered with her only son.

“My son is innocent,� she said Monday outside the courtroom. “Your government destroyed my country. Now, you destroy my people.�

Lori Parker told reporters that she hoped Panah is raped and killed by other inmates. She hopes his death is painful.

“I think death by multiple sodomies would be appropriate,� she said. “This can never be an eye-for-an-eye matter since Nicole was a priceless human being and Panah is completely worthless. . . . She was . . . so great, so innocent and he’s a piece of crap.�

Times staff writer Julio Moran contributed to this story.