JURY TO BE SELECTED FOR HOMICIDE TRIAL : MAN WHOSE FAMILY DIED IN FIRE DECLARED COMPETENT.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

Three years after Jorjik Avanesian was charged with killing his wife and six children in one of the worst arson homicides in county history, the 43-year-old man is readying for trial.

The Glendale man was declared incompetent in 1996 to stand trial, but after 1-1/2 years at Patton State Hospital near Highland, he was declared competent, and jury selection is set to begin Tuesday. Opening statements are expected to start June 21.

The tedious process of collecting his psychological records from a mental hospital in his native Iran has contributed to delays in getting to trial, said Stanley Perlo, a deputy public defender.

The trial process restarted after court-appointed psychiatrists found Avanesian competent in February 1998.

He is charged with seven counts of murder and one count of arson, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Perlo shakes his head in disapproval at the competency ruling.

``My client has deep-seated psychological problems,'' he said. ``This man does not deserve to die. He should be locked up for the rest of his life - either in the jail ward of a psychiatric hospital or the psychiatric ward of a jailhouse,'' he said.

Glendale police say Avanesian walked away from his blazing apartment as his children shrieked. Found inside the burned-out apartment at 1319 E. Harvard St. were gasoline-soaked towels and sheets and two pots filled with flammable liquid, according to grand jury testimony.

Killed were Avanesian's wife, Turan, and their six children, Roobina, 17; Rita, 16; Ranica, 9; Rodrik, 8, Romik, 6 and Roland, 4.

The family had immigrated to the United States in October 1995, after fleeing Iran as political refugees. Avanesian agreed to surrender to police after meeting with the editor of Asre Emrooz, a Farsi-language newspaper based in Encino. Homayoun Houshiar Nejad, the publisher of the newspaper, said Avanesian told him he killed his wife because he believed she was cheating on him.

Police say Avanesian admitted setting the fire, citing long-term problems with his wife, whom he said he suspected of cheating on him and using drugs. He has also blamed drug dealers for accidentally setting the fire.

Seven months after the fire, Avanesian flew into a rage in Pasadena Superior Court, shouting, ``The Glendale police are liars. Nobody died.'' After the outburst, Superior Court Judge Janice Croft found him to be incompetent.

Since then, Perlo said, Avanesian has mellowed. His client, who he described as having ``a long history of psychiatric disturbance'' is on medication that quells his stress and behavior.

Still, he says things that make Perlo question his mental state.

Avanesian has been assaulted twice at Twin Towers since being held there without bail, Perlo said. Because he is older than most inmates in the general prison population, Perlo requested he be housed in his own cell. It was Avanesian, not the prosecutor, who disagreed, Perlo said.

``He's afraid if he's in his own cell he'll get sick and die,'' he said.

Avanesian was in court Thursday as the prosecution and defense made last-minute motions before jury selection is set to begin, from a jury pool of 250 people. Deputy District Attorney Kevin McCormick, who has been prosecuting the case since charges were filed, has taken a job in Sacramento and has been replaced by Deputy District Attorney Eleanor Hunter.

Hunter would not comment on the case. Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, also declined comment.

As for Avanesian's defense, Perlo declined to say whether his client will plead guilty by reason of insanity. However, he described his client as ``not in any way close to being normal.''

In court last month, Perlo told McCormick he did not intend to use the insanity defense. But that does not preclude him from entering a plea during the trial, he said.

The trial is expected to last three to six weeks, attorneys told the judge.