Suspect in Slaying of Motorist Pleads Guilty

A Granada Hills man charged with shooting a motorist in the head on a Reseda street pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Kevin Cravens, 20, who was originally charged with murder, was allowed to plead to the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter because evidence showed he may have been high on marijuana and PCP (phencyclidine) when he shot Michael Altoonian on March 16, 1985, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth L.Barshop said.

Barshop said Cravens’ intoxication would have made it difficult to prove that he intended to kill Altoonian, a prerequisite for a murder conviction.

Cravens, free on $75,000 bail, spoke clearly and without emotion as he entered his guilty pleas in San Fernando Superior Court. Relatives of Cravens broke into tears as he spoke.

As part of the plea bargain, Cravens will be ordered to serve 17 years in state prison when he appears for sentencing Feb. 11.

According to court documents, Altoonian, 20, of Reseda, was driving his pickup truck along Roscoe Boulevard near Vanalden Avenue with four passengers when the driver of another pickup truck began repeatedly cutting across Altoonian’s path.

Altoonian rolled down his window to yell at the other driver and was struck in the head by one of two shots fired by Cravens, who was in the other truck, the documents said. None of Altoonian’s passengers was injured.

Some of the passengers in Altoonian’s truck said they had been in a fight with Cravens a week earlier at the Malibu Grand Prix in Northridge, a video game center and race track for miniature autos, Barshop said. The passengers said Altoonian was not involved in the fight.

“This case was a tragedy,” Barshop said. “An innocent person who was not involved in anything but driving down the street was shot by another person who wanted to be involved in using and abusing drugs.”