Updated: Tombleson's Double-Murder Trial Now Set For Monday

Updated to reflect the change in opening arguments to Monday, April 29.

Although a jury was seated Wednesday, Orange County Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler has determined that the trial of Justin Alvin Masao Tombleson will begin on Monday.

That decision was made Thursday afternoon when it appeared opening arguments would begin to determine the fate of the Lake Forest man accused of killing two Mission Viejo friends outside an all-night eatery in Lake Forest.

Tombleson is charged with two counts of murder in the June 11, 2011, stabbing deaths of 32-year-old Hossain Saidian and his 26-year-old friend, Elvis Kechechian.

Tombleson also faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon.

Saidian and three friends had been out celebrating his birthday earlier in the evening, but after going bowling and to a club, they stopped at the 24-hour Albatros Mexican Restaurant on Rockfield Boulevard. A confrontation with three women, including Tombeson's girlfriend, inside the restaurant spilled into the parking lot, where Saidian and Kechechian were stabbed after Tombleson arrived at the scene.

Kechechian, a strength and conditioning coach for the ice hockey team at Santa Margarita Catholic High in Rancho Santa Margarita, died at the scene. Saidian died five days later.

They, and two other men were in line at the restaurant when they began arguing with the women—allegedly afte they cut in line. The confrontation escalated when Aris Kechechian, the brother of Elvis Kechechian, allegedly spit on the women, which incited other patrons to get involved.

Restaurant management had them all leave, and it was in the strip mall parking lot that Tombleson, who had been called by his girlfriend, arrived and escalated the conflict to violence.

After an initial conftrontation, in which he was knocked down, according to a witness, he allegedly pulled a pocketknife and stabbed the men.

Tombleson, who turned himself in two days later, is contending he stabbed the men in self defense.

—City News Service contributed to this report