Kenneth gay

As Verna approached the vehicle, prosecutors say, Raynard Cummings shot him once from the backseat of the car before the man described as his "partner in crime," Kenneth Gay, exited the vehicle and emptied a revolver into Verna's body. Gay’s conviction has been reversed once by the California Supreme Court and his death sentence has been reversed twice.

Gay's fight for a new trial has spanned decades. Kenneth Gay, 65, was convicted Friday of murder and a weapons offense in connection with the decades-old slaying. His death sentence was initially overturned due to questions about his attorney's competence; a second jury was assembled to decide whether Gay should face life in prison or execution.

Defense attorney Monnica Thelen argued that two tragedies occurred the day of Verna's murder: the officer's killing and the first step toward the conviction of "a truly innocent man. Gay, Cummings and their girlfriends had carried out at least five armed robberies in the San Fernando Valley between April and the day of Verna's murder, according to Ayvazian.

At a trial, Ayvazian noted, four witnesses identified Gay specifically or a "light-skinned person as the outside shooter. Both men were convicted in of killing Verna and were later sentenced to death. That left Deputy Dist. Pamela Cummings took a plea deal and testified that Gay shot Verna, a statement she repeated on the stand Tuesday afternoon.

When Verna pulled over the car carrying the couples, Ayvazian said, Gay opened fire out of fear of going to prison. Kenneth Gay will spend five to 15 years in prison after pleaded no contest to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Man convicted of killing :

In his opening argument, Ayvazian said the men had beaten elderly victims during several of the robberies, displaying graphic images of store owners bruised and battered. Ayvazian showed pictures of Gay taken inwhen he had frizzy hair and a short mustache — a stark contrast to the bald, elderly man who was wheeled into court Tuesday wearing a sweater vest.

The year-old motorcycle cop thought he was making a routine traffic stop on June 2,prosecutors said. Thelen has said Pamela lied to protect herself and her then-husband, noting that she was desperate to be spared from prison after being linked to a cop kenneth gay.

David Ayvazian to try convincing a jury that, despite the legal headaches that led to a new trial, Gay's guilt remains unquestioned. The spree was broken up by a quick trip to Las Vegas, where both couples got married. But Gay, 65, was back in front of a jury Tuesday, hoping for a second chance at an acquittal in the same San Fernando courthouse.

But he had pulled over a vehicle occupied by four people who'd committed a string of armed robberies in the San Fernando Valley in recent weeks. Police said they found Verna's gun near Gay; Ayvazian referred to it as a "trophy" in his opening statements.

Gay's conviction was thrown out in after the California Supreme Court decided that his initial trial lawyer was incompetent. A little more than four decades have passed since Paul Verna's final day as a police officer.

Thelen also pointed to comments Cummings made in custody in which he claimed credit for Verna's death. What was true on June 2, Gay, Cummings and their wives were arrested together in a car in San Diego County after the shooting. On the stand Tuesday, Pamela said she hadn't spoken to Cummings in more than two decades.

Gay was retried this summer after his conviction was thrown out on appeal. The six-man, six-woman jury in San Fernando is the third to hear the case against Kenneth Earl Gay, now 65, who is charged with murder for the June 2,slaying of Officer Paul Verna, a married father of two sons.