Capital-Offense Murder Charge Cut in Slaying of Restaurateur

A 23-year-old Lake View Terrace man, originally charged with crimes that could have brought him the death penalty, was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on reduced charges of murder and auto theft in the shooting death of a Sunland restaurant owner.

Lewis Lim was fatally shot at his Pioneer Chicken franchise on Foothill Boulevard on Nov. 19. Lim, who had bought the business only two months before, died of head wounds at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills later that day.

Ronald Taylor was originally charged with robbery, car theft and murder committed during a robbery. Under state law, prosecutors may seek the death penalty for defendants charged with murder committed during a serious crime.

Insufficient Evidence

But San Fernando Municipal Court Judge Paul I. Metzler ruled that there was insufficient evidence that Taylor intended to commit a robbery.

“There’s not one scintilla of evidence of robbery or attempted robbery,” Metzler said. “I don’t think you can presume the motive.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman said he plans to ask that the preliminary hearing in the case be reopened with additional evidence that the murder occurred during “a robbery that went awry.” He would not reveal the nature of the evidence he plans to present.

Taylor, who has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to be arraigned on June 21 in San Fernando Superior Court on the murder and car-theft charges. He is being held without bail.

During the preliminary hearing, employees of the restaurant said that the incident began when two men entered the fast-food outlet about 1:30 p.m.

Restaurant employee Rajinder Kaur testified that one of the men requested a bathroom key. Within five minutes he returned with the key in one hand and a gun in the other. He shoved her against the counter, she said. She said she heard the owner’s yells from the kitchen moments later followed by gunshots.

Richman said it is unclear whether Taylor was the “triggerman” or the “lookout.” The second man is still at large.

Stolen Car

Four witnesses testified at the hearing. But only one identified Taylor as one of two men who ran out of the restaurant and sped away in a car that turned out to be stolen, Los Angeles police said.

Maria Duarte testified that she was pulling out of a parking lot next to the fast-food restaurant when she heard a gunshot. She identified Taylor as one of the men who ran out of the business.

But Kaur and another employee, Felix Hernandez, testified that they did not get a good look at the men’s faces.

“I just sort of saw him,” Kaur said, through a Punjabi interpreter. “As you know, an Indian lady wouldn’t just directly look into a man’s face.”

Richman said Taylor was arrested by Los Angeles police in Oceanside on March 31. Police said they found his fingerprints on the stolen car identified by witnesses as having been used by the murder suspects.