Wife of Condemned Man Gets 3-Year Term in Policeman’s Slaying

The wife of one of two men sentenced to death for murdering a police officer in Lake View Terrace was sentenced Tuesday to three years in state prison for her role in the killing and in the series of robberies that preceded it.

Pamela Cummings, 27, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of robbery and one count of being an accomplice to a felony for helping her husband and another man evade arrest after Los Angeles Police Officer Paul Verna was shot during a routine traffic stop on June 2, 1983, Deputy Dist. Atty. John M. Watson said.

Testified Against Husband

As part of a plea bargain worked out with prosecutors a year after Verna’s murder, Cummings agreed to testify against her husband, Raynard Cummings, his accomplice in the murder, Kenneth Gay, and Gay’s wife, Robin Gay, who was sentenced last year to six years in state prison for being an accomplice to Verna’s murder.

In return for her testimony, prosecutors agreed to drop 21 counts against Pamela Cummings and to tell the sentencing judge about her cooperation in the murder case, Watson said. Pamela Cummings could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted on all the original charges, he said.

Testimony Changed

During the sentencing hearing, Watson told San Fernando Superior Court Judge David D. Perez that Pamela Cummings had gone against her agreement to testify truthfully by slanting her testimony so it would favor her husband.

In a letter to the court, Watson alleged that Pamela Cummings’ testimony at the murder trial differed from what she told prosecutors during an earlier tape-recorded interview.

At the trial, Pamela Cummings contradicted her tape-recorded statements by saying she did not know who fired the first shot at Verna, the letter alleged. In the taped interview, Cummings told prosecutors that she believed her husband shot the officer before handing the gun to Gay, who fired five more bullets into the officer, the letter said.

Attorneys for Raynard Cummings repeatedly disputed the “pass-the-gun” theory, arguing that only Gay shot the officer. Several witnesses testified that they saw Gay climb out of the car the men were in to fire the final shots into Verna.

But prosecutors argued that ballistics evidence and the angle of Verna’s first wound indicated that Cummings fired the first shot from the back seat of the car.

‘Important Testimony’

Despite the discrepancies between Pamela Cummings’ testimony and her statements before the trial, Watson said after the sentencing that Pamela Cummings’ testimony helped convict Robin Gay, who helped hide the men after the shooting, and strengthened the case against Kenneth Gay.

“Her testimony was very important in convicting Robin Gay, even if she didn’t tell the entire truth, so I’m satisfied,” Watson said. “I think it’s a fair resolution. She got less than the maximum possible, but she still got a balanced sentence for what cooperation she did offer.”

Pamela Cummings received credit for a year spent in jail and will be eligible for parole in one year, Watson said.