Drug Informant Is Acquitted of Murder : 1981 Shooting of Manhattan Beach Jeweler Occurred in Calexico

A man with a history of serving both the American and Mexican governments as a drug informant was acquitted Monday in Orange County Superior Court of charges that he shot a Manhattan Beach jeweler in a Calexico motel room.

Robert Corenevsky, 57, of El Segundo, who spent five years in jail awaiting his trial, had been accused of killing and robbing Tom Wood, whose body was found in A’s Fiesta Motel in the Imperial County border town.

Corenevsky, crippled by back problems, leaned on his attorney’s shoulder as he walked to the jury box to shake hands with jurors and thank them. He then sank into his wheelchair to be taken downstairs and released.

Wood’s body was found July 11, 1981. A briefcase which acquaintances said had contained $20,000 was found empty.

The case was sent to Orange County on a change of venue after preparations for Corenevsky’s trial became a hotly debated political issue in Imperial County. A trial judge there eliminated the possibility of a death penalty after finding that county officials had denied Corenevsky his rights by refusing to pay $14,000 in back fees to one of his attorneys. The case was also part of a brouhaha between the county’s Board of Supervisors and the public defender’s office, which helped lead to a grand jury investigation into defense costs.

Further delays in the case were caused by Corenevsky’s back problems, which occurred after his arrest.

Corenevsky for years has been an informant for a variety of federal agencies, primarily the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. He has also worked for jurisdictions in Mexico, where he was once convicted of murder. U.S. government officials say Corenevsky escaped from jail there; his attorneys have implied that he was released.

Corenevsky’s attorney, Steven E. Feldman of San Diego, contended that his client thought Wood might somehow help him uncover a major drug operation and befriended him to help federal authorities.

Prosecutors claim Corenevsky tried to get Wood to invest in a non-existent gold transaction through Mexico in an attempt to lure him to the motel to rob him.

Corenevsky was seen with Wood at the hotel’s bar the night before he was found dead. A few days later, Corenevsky paid his landlord a year’s advance rent with $10,200 in cash.

But jurors were far from convinced that Corenevsky killed Wood.

The jury’s deliberations went into a third day, but juror Bruce Rudy of Orange said he saw no reason for deliberations to take more than three minutes.

“I did not see one iota of evidence that pointed toward the man’s guilt,” Rudy said. “I kept waiting, but there just wasn’t anything there. I can’t understand why the man was even brought to trial.”

Medical experts said Wood probably died between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., a time when Corenevsky could show he was at his El Segundo home 246 miles away. Prosecutors relied on one expert who said the killing could have taken place as early as 3 a.m.

Jury foreman James Rucker said that from the beginning of deliberations most jurors had at least reasonable doubt that Corenevsky was Wood’s killer.

Deputy Atty. Gen. William Wood, the prosecutor (no relation to the victim), said afterward: “It’s disappointing. We worked awfully hard on this case.”

Corenevsky has little money now, and his restaurant business is gone. Defense attorney Feldman speculated that Corenevsky “will probably go back to doing what he knows best,” indicating Corenevsky might return to a role as government informant.