LOS ANGELES, CA – A now-62-year-old man who was originally convicted of the murder of an LAPD officer in 1983 has since had his original conviction vacated earlier in 2020.
Now, prosecutors are gearing up to take the alleged cop killer back to trial, but there are looming concerns that the anti-police climate could affect a trial jury’s returning of a verdict.
Prosecutors will re-try a case against a man accused of killing a Los Angeles police officer over 30 years … https://t.co/eS9c6nKXkg
— LAPD Authors (@Angel_City_Buzz) December 3, 2020
Back in 1983, LAPD Officer Paul Verna was gunned down during a traffic stop in the San Fernando Valley. During the trials that ensued thereafter, two people were convicted of Officer Verna’s murder.
Those people were Raynard Cummings and Kenneth Earl Gay.
When those cases went to trial, evidence presented said that Cummings fired one round into Officer Verna during the traffic stop and that Gay shot the officer five times after Cummings.
On a good note, Cummings is sitting on death row and has not had his convictions overturned. But the California Supreme Court at first overturned Gay’s death sentence and then in February of 2020 vacated the entire murder conviction.
Thus, Los Angeles prosecutors have now got to bring Gay back into court on trial for the murder of Officer Verna. Former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon recently won the election to take the helm for the Los Angeles DA’s Office.
And with Gascon taking office, he said that he’s not going to be pushing for the death penalty against Gay when going back to court. A spokesperson for his office conveyed the following on the matter:
“The Verna family – like all families in death penalty cases – has been forced to relive their trauma over decades of proceedings.”
“The death penalty is also irreversible, and 37 years later it appears questions remain as to who pulled the trigger. These reasons, coupled with the exorbitant cost to taxpayers, is why the DA-elect plans to immediately take the death penalty off the table.”
Back in 2016, California Governor placed a moratorium on the death penalty being administered – even though a ballot measure within the state showed voters opposed abolishing capital punishment.
.@GeorgeGascon is taking the death penalty off the table in the prosecution of Kenneth Gay, who is accused of killing @LAPDHQ Officer Paul Verna in 1983. https://t.co/mq5yHrH6R4
— Stefanie Dazio (@steffdaz) December 3, 2020
Officer Verna’s oldest son, Bryce, commented recently on how Governor Newsom’s actions were adding insult to injury, especially when going against the voters’ wishes:
“The people of California voted to implement the death penalty, and it’s amazing to me that a few individuals can override the entire state. It’s a travesty of justice.”
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents LAPD officers, union president Craig Lally referred to Gay’s alleged killing of Officer Verna as a “heinous crime”:
“Gay’s heinous crime robbed our city of a police officer who was a proven hero, robbed a wife of her husband and robbed two sons of the chance to know their father.”
But what has the Verna family concerned in all this is that public support of police officers – especially in California – is not what is once was back in the 1980s.
The family worries that the current climate regarding police may result in Gay being found not guilty, possibly just to spite modern police officers.
What led to Gay’s original conviction being tossed out was due to his former trial attorney, Daye Shinn, “did not introduce crucial evidence” during trial that could’ve swayed the jury all those years back.
What a powerful story. https://t.co/J5sVFXf6cm
— 𝐉eff 𝐆orell (@JeffGorell) October 16, 2020
Even though Gay is currently in county jail, his attorney, Monnica Thelen, seems confident in her client’s innocence:
“Mr. Gay has maintained his innocence and we are hoping that the government will see that this case should not be re-tried. The killer, the sole killer of Officer Verna is currently on death row.”
During the trial in 1985, where Gay was convicted during said proceedings, he said the following to Officer Verna’s family in court:
“Mrs. Verna, for what it is worth, I extend my sincere and heartfelt condolences to you and your family, but I didn’t kill the guy.”
The case is slated to return to court on January 14th of 2021.
In other cases involving murdered police officers, a guilty plea entered by one of the killers of Corporal Ronil Singh finds the defendant avoiding the death penalty.
Here’s that previous report.
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NEWMAN, CA – It was the day after Christmas in 2018 when 33-year-old Newman Police Corporal Ronil Singh never came home to his family. His murderer, Gustavo Perez Arriaga, has now pleaded guilty to killing the officer.
An illegal alien gang member has pleaded guilty to murdering 33-year-old Newman, California, police officer Ronil Singh in December 2018 and will thus avoid the death penalty. https://t.co/CF63LlGh4Z
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) November 18, 2020
Reports indicate that this cop killer has avoided the death penalty because of a plea bargain.
Police had caught up to Perez Arriaga back in December 2018 and arrested him following a 50-hour manhunt.
Flash-forward to November 2020, and Perez Arriaga entered a plea deal that admitted he murdered Corporal Singh and discharged his illegally possessed firearm in the commission of murder.
By entering said plea deal, Perez Arriaga will not receive the death penalty and will instead be issued a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Perez Arriaga also agreed via the plea deal to never appeal the case.
During the recent court hearing, Officer Singh’s widow, Anamika Singh-Chand, spoke about how she is going to see that empty chair at her dining table every night:
“I’m never going to see him come home. He’s never going to hold his child. I’m always going to have that empty chair at my dinner table.”
Anamika spoke of how her worst fears came to life the day she was informed of her husband’s death, a scenario she said her husband had prepared her for:
“Because Ron had prepared me all my life for that day, if ever police came to the door, ‘just know I’m critically injured or I’m no more.’”
Man accused of killing Newman Police Cpl. Ronil Singh pleads guilty https://t.co/N65gue2Zyk
— ABC10 (@ABC10) November 5, 2020
The still-grieving widow spoke about how her husband loved having achieved the “American dream” of being a cop, and how their “lives were perfect” until that horrible day after Christmas in 2018:
“He loved his American dream of becoming a police officer. He was passionate and proud of his job.
Our lives were perfect until the late hours of Dec. 26, 2018, when a police corporal, a husband, a father, a son was brutally murdered for fulfilling responsibilities of protecting and serving his community.”
Three fellow officers were able to speak during the sentencing. Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson said:
“Because we are a small department, we are like a family at the Newman Police Department, so (we) just wanted to let the suspect know that his actions actually tore up the whole community. It was difficult for the entire community of Newman.”
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