Ex-wife makes first court appearance after being charged in murder of Woodland Hills doctor
WOODLAND HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The ex-wife of a doctor who was shot and killed outside his medical clinic in Woodland Hills made her first appearance in court Tuesday, one day after she was charged with murder in connection with his death.
Prosecutors allege that 53-year-old Ahang Mirshojae, of Calabasas, hired a hit man to kill the victim, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, for unspecified financial gain.
The murder charge against Mirshojae includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain in connection with the Aug. 23 slaying of her 61-year-old ex-husband, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. She is also facing a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with an alleged baseball bat attack May 3 on her former husband.
Ahang Mirshojae, who was being held without bail, briefly appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday morning. Wearing a standard orange jumpsuit assigned to jail inmates, she was seen speaking with her attorney and afterward answered questions posed to her by the judge.
Her arraignment was then postponed until Jan. 6.
Her attorney, Donald Marks, spoke to reporters outside the courthouse, where he gave brief remarks.
"I believe Ms. Mirshojae is innocent, and secondly I believe that the evidence will show she did not commit these crimes," Marks said. "That's my statement."
Asked if she maintained her innocence, the attorney replied: "Absolutely." Was she surprised by her arrest? "Very much so," Marks said.
Ahang Mirshojae is among three people charged with murder in connection with the slaying of her ex-husband, whom authorities said was ambushed as he walked to his vehicle in the parking lot outside his clinic in the 5900 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, near Warner Center Park.
Co-defendant Evan Hardman, a 41-year-old resident of Tomball, Texas, allegedly approached the victim from behind as he walked out of his clinic and shot him, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Hardman was arrested last Tuesday in the Houston area by deputies from the Harris County Sheriff's Department and is awaiting extradition to California.
The murder charge against him includes the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder by means of lying in wait, along with allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm and that he has a string of robbery convictions in Los Angeles County dating back to 2002, according to the complaint.
The murder charge against co-defendant Sarallah Jawed, 26, of Canoga Park, includes the special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.
Hardman and Jawed are also charged along with the doctor's ex-wife in the May 3 baseball bat attack.
Jawed, who was arrested last Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department's fugitive unit, was ordered to remain jailed without bail pending arraignment Jan. 6.
He appeared Monday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom with a shirt pulled over his head after Superior Court Judge Susan J. De Witt agreed to allow the media to photograph and videotape him.
Jawed allegedly drove Hardman out of state a few days after the killing, according to the District Attorney's Office.
A fourth defendant, Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, of Reseda, was arrested last Tuesday and pleaded not guilty last Thursday to one count of being an accessory after the fact, along with an allegation that she has one or more prior serious or violent felony convictions.
Sweeting -- who is accused of driving Hardman to and from the scene of the shooting -- remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail and is due back in court Dec. 24, when a date is set for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence against her to allow the case to proceed to trial.
Prosecutors declined to immediately file any charges against another man who was arrested last week in the case, Shawn Randolph, 46, of Valley Village, pending further investigation by police.
At a Monday afternoon news conference, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Ahang Mirshojae was charged with "effectively hiring a hit man" - - Hardman -- to carry out the killing for financial gain. The district attorney did not provide any specifics about the amount of money involved or how much she allegedly paid to have the victim killed.
"The horror and betrayal of this crime are beyond words, and it is with a heavy heart that we must also announce that charges have been filed against Dr. Hamid Mirshojae's ex-wife, Ahang Mirshojae, in connection with this tragedy," Hochman said. "The depth of the deceit and violence involved in this case is chilling, and we will not rest until justice is served."
Mirshojae's ex-wife was arrested last Thursday following a police raid on a sprawling mansion she's believed to own in the 5500 block of Newcastle Lane in Calabasas.
According to police, Hamid Mirshojae was walking to his vehicle in the parking lot of his Woodland Hills medical clinic at about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23. When he approached the driver's side of his vehicle, "a masked man emerged from hiding around the corner of the clinic and ran toward him," police said in a statement. "From a close distance, the suspect fired at Dr. Mirshojae in an ambush-style attack and then immediately fled back toward the rear of the clinic away from the scene."
Police said last week that they believe the people arrested so far in the case "conspired to commit murder, culminating in the ambush and subsequent demise of Dr. Mirshojae."
"It should be noted that the investigation remains ongoing, including determining the relationship some of the involved may have shared with the victim," according to the LAPD.
It was unclear if the District Attorney's Office plans to seek the death penalty against any of the three defendants charged with murder.
City News Service contributed to this report.
