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A former Marine was sentenced Friday to three years behind bars for the chokehold killing of a man at the Glendale apartment of the defendant’s then-girlfriend — a self-described cracker-bread heiress.
Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz imposed a mid-length term on Jared Kasiewicz, 29, who had faced a maximum of six years in state prison on his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter in the Sept. 10, 2015, death of John Michael King-Smith.
Co-defendant Sparkle Soojian — who described herself on her website as the granddaughter of the founders of the Ak Mak Armenian cracker-bread company – – pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced April 6 to three years behind bars.
Soojian, 34, was released from custody a day after her sentencing, according to jail records.
Soojian and Kasiewicz were arrested by Glendale police the day of King- Smith’s death and were initially charged with murder, but that count was dismissed as a result of their pleas.
Soojian sent text messages to friends after King-Smith — her former roommate’s ex-boyfriend — showed up at her residence, according to testimony presented at a hearing last year in which she and Kasiewicz were ordered to stand trial. Kasiewicz, who had gotten a text message from Soojian, put the 31- year-old man in a chokehold, according to the testimony.
When Glendale police were dispatched to the home, they found King-Smith in a “state of medical distress.” He was pronounced dead soon after being taken to a hospital. The coroner’s office determined that King-Smith died from asphyxia and neck compression.
–City News Service
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