Sentencing Trial : 2 Stars Praise Hired Killer’s ‘Loving’ Side

A former television anchorwoman and an actor testified Wednesday on behalf of a former Los Angeles police officer convicted in the contract killing of a Northridge man.

Christine Lund, a former anchorwoman at KABC-Channel 7, described former Officer Robert Von Villas, 44, of Simi Valley as an “insightful human being . . . who has immense good in him.”

And actor David Soul described Von Villas as a “loving, warm person who is great with kids.”

The testimony came during the penalty phase of Von Villas’ trial in Van Nuys Superior Court. He was convicted last month of murder and conspiracy to murder Thomas Weed, 52, in 1983.

The jury can recommend to Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp that Von Villas be sentenced to death or life in prison without possibility of parole.

Another former Los Angeles police officer, Richard Herman Ford, 48, was convicted Oct. 11 of the same charges. But a jury deadlocked 11 to 1 over his punishment. The district attorney’s office has yet to decide whether to retry the penalty phase of the trial and seek the death penalty. If there is no retrial, Schempp has the option of sentencing Ford to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

Ford and Von Villas are accused of killing Weed in exchange for $20,000 from Weed’s former wife.

Lund testified Wednesday that she met Von Villas when he was patrolling near her Chatsworth home. They became friends, largely because both were intensely interested in the problems of children, Lund said.

Lund described Von Villas as a devoted family man who had a “magic touch with kids.”

“This is a person who has immense good in him. He was always trying to do something for kids,” Lund said. She did not elaborate on what the former police officer did to help children.

Lund said Von Villas, who worked as a juvenile officer, confided in her that he was growing increasingly frustrated with the Police Department. She said Von Villas felt that the department was not doing enough for children.

Soul testified that he met Von Villas while starring in the television show, “Starsky and Hutch,” in which Soul played a police officer. When Von Villas directed traffic at a filming location for the show, the two struck up a conversation and became good friends, the actor said.

Soul described Von Villas as “a very responsive human being, the kind of person I like to know, the type I wish there were more of.”