Ex-wife of slain Woodland Hills doctor makes first court appearance
The ex-wife of slain Woodland Hills doctor Hamid Mirshojae made her first downtown Los Angeles court appearance Tuesday to face charges of murder with special allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain.
Ahang Mirshojae, 53, was charged Monday by District Attorney Nathan Hochman who said, "she has been charged with, effectively hiring a hit man," to allegedly kill her ex-husband.
The Calabasas woman's arraignment was postponed until Jan. 6 and she will remain in jail without bail.
Public records show that Ahang Mirshojae was divorced from the physician in 2010.
On the evening of Aug. 23, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae was leaving his Woodland Hills medical clinic, walking to his car when he was gunned down by a masked man.
Los Angeles police investigators described the killing as a targeted hit as surveillance video showed the suspected gunman waiting in a nearby parking lot for nearly an hour before the 61-year-old doctor exited the building.
The DA's office has charged four people, including Ahang Mirshojae, in connection to Dr. Mirshojae's death.
A 41-year-old Texas man is accused of being the gunman. Evan Hardman was arrested last Tuesday in the Houston area 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.
Co-defendant Sarallah Jawed, 26, of Canoga Park, was arrested Wednesday and faces a murder charge with the special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain. He made a Monday court appearance.
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 is accused of driving Hardman to and from the scene of the shooting and 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.
A few months prior to the murder, on May 3, Hardman and Jawed allegedly assaulted Dr. Mirshojae with a blunt object. Ahang Mirshojae is accused of hiring Hardman and Jawed to commit that crime as well, according to the District Attorney's Office.
