GLENDALE, CA - A 15-year-old Armenian boy was ordered last week to stand trial as an adult in the slaying of two boys at a La Crescenta schoolyard.

Glendale Superior Court Judge Barbara Lee Burke ruled that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to try Michael Hrayr Demirdjian on two counts of murder, with the special circumstances of torture and robbery in the July 14 deaths of two teenagers.

Because of his age, Demirdjian faces a maximum punishment of life in prison, if convicted.

At the preliminary hearing, Glendale police detective Dennis Smith testified that Demirdjian was linked to an Almaden gang and had helped kill the two boys.

The detective also testified that although there was substantial evidence linking him to the crime at Valley View Elementary School, none of the fingerprints or footprints recovered by police could be identified as Demirdjian's.