Criminal proceedings were reinstated against a San Fernando Valley man accused in the shooting death of a College of the Canyons student last year.
Grigor Hovsepyan, a 23-year-old Granada Hills man, has pleaded not guilty after he was held to answer to a murder charge in the May 2024 shooting death of Gabriel Unzueta.
Hovsepyan’s attorney filed a legal challenge in July questioning his mental capacity, which was ordered for a hearing in August.
Judge Ronald Kaye read a doctor’s report on the evaluation of Hovsepyan before clearing him for trial, according to the minute order from a Dec. 4 hearing in Hollywood, where mental health cases are heard.
“The court finds that the defendant is presently mentally competent to stand trial within the meaning of Penal Code Section 1368, and that he is able to understand the nature of the proceedings taken against him and is able to assist counsel in the conduct of a defense in a rational manner,” according to the court record.
The matter was sent back to Judge Hilleri Merritt in San Fernando the following day.
Merritt set a Feb. 4 hearing for Hovsepyan’s next appearance, with a trial date expected to be set within 45 days of that date.
Hovsepyan remains in custody without bail while he awaits trial.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office has indicated prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in Hovsepyan’s trial, but the defendant could receive life without parole if convicted of the first-degree murder charge. He’s also been charged with two counts of attempted murder and several special allegations involving the use of a gun and the violent nature of the crime.
During Hovsepyan’s preliminary hearing two months ago, the prosecution sought to paint the shooting as a retaliatory murder, according to the court transcripts.
Unzueta was in a car with friends who testified at Hovsepyan’s preliminary hearing in May that they were throwing eggs at cars near the top of Reseda Boulevard when one of those cars came after them.
A Los Angeles Police Department detective testified that four 9mm shells were recovered at the shooting scene. The investigator also testified that Hovsepyan talked about the shooting with a cellmate who, in reality, was an undercover officer.
