CANADIAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN LOS ANGELES
A Canadian accused of torturing, disfiguring and ultimately killing his girlfriend in their West Hollywood apartment last week pleaded not guilty Tuesday, as his lawyer questioned whether he was fit to stand trial.
Blake Leibel, a graphic novelist, screenwriter and son of a prominent Toronto developer, wore a sleeveless padded suicide jacket during his brief court appearance in Los Angeles. He had chains wrapped around his waist, his hands were cuffed in front of him.
Leibel was arraigned on charges of mayhem, aggravated mayhem, torture and murder, all related to one victim: Iana Kasian, his livein girlfriend and mother of his newborn child.
As defined by the California Criminal Code, mayhem includes disfigurement or dismemberment, while aggravated mayhem is defined as showing “extreme indifference to the physical or psychological well-being of another person” by causing “permanent disability or disfigurement.”
Leibel’s lawyers met with him for about 10 minutes before his court appearance. Afterward, attorney Alaleh Kamran questioned whether her client was mentally competent to stand trial, prompting Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz to order him to undergo a psychological evaluation.
Police found Leibel barricaded inside his apartment last Thursday after Kasian’s mother reported her missing. The Kyiv-born woman moved to the United States two years ago and gave birth to a baby girl on May 3, her first child, friends said.
Kasian lived in Kyiv until her late 20s, said Denis Aronchik, a family friend. She studied law in college and worked in tax inspection, said another friend, Anna Seleznova.
Aronchik said she moved to the United States two years ago on a student visa and met Leibel soon afterward.
Leibel was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department May 20 and charged with sexual assault. He was released the same day on US$100,000 bail.
Kasian was not the alleged victim, Aronchik said, but when she found out about the charge, she moved out of their apartment and in with her mother, who was visiting the United States to help with the baby.
Aronchik said Kasian went back to the apartment last Tuesday to speak with Leibel. When she didn’t return by the next day, her mother went to police. On Thursday, officers entered the apartment and found Kasian’s bludgeoned body inside.
Kamran declined to comment afterward. She also would not say whether Leibel’s family intended to seek custody of the couple’s child.
“We would really like to have this case tried in the courtroom, not in the … media,” she said.
Kasian’s mother is caring for the baby, said Aronchik. The family is raising money online to have Kasian’s body brought back to Ukraine and to fund what they expect will be an expensive custody battle.
The baby is an heiress of two wealthy Toronto families.
Leibel’s father, Lorne, made a fortune in the Greater Toronto Area’s suburban homebuilding boom of the 1980s and 1990s as president of Canada Homes, once described as the nation’s largest home builder.
His mother, Eleanor Leibel, was the daughter of Paul and Leona Chitel. The Chitel family founded Alros Products Ltd., a plastics company based in Toronto that does business as Polytarp.
Blake Leibel moved to Los Angeles around 2004, according to court documents. He appeared to thrive there, writing and directing for movies and television and co-writing several comics and graphic novels. However, by 2011, he had virtually no income, according to his pleadings in a civil case, relying on his inheritance and an allowance from his wealthy parents.
“For me it’s a big loss,” Zhenia Kasian wrote to the National Post Tuesday. “I do not know how to live without my beloved sister.”