2 16-Year-Olds Held in Slaying Ordered to Face Trial as Adults

A judge ruled Friday that two of three youths accused of killing a man who tried to stop them from stealing a pickup truck in North Hollywood should be tried as adults.

The two 16-year-old boys, both of North Hollywood, are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in San Fernando Municipal Court on charges of murder, residential burglary and auto theft, Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison said.

Sylmar Juvenile Court Judge Jeffrey Wiatt ruled that the crime had a level of sophistication and seriousness that made the two youths unfit to be tried as juveniles. Wiatt delayed a decision on the third youth, also a 17-year-old from North Hollywood, until Tuesday.

A fourth suspect, Roland Russell, 18, of North Hollywood, is already charged as an adult.

Nison described the victim, Darris Garvin, 37, of North Hollywood, as a good Samaritan.

Garvin, a film editor and part-time bartender, was killed April 2 after he had chased four people he had seen trying to steal another person’s pickup truck in the secured underground parking garage of his apartment complex. As he tried to grab one of the thieves, another drew a gun and fatally shot Garvin in the stomach, Nison said.