Pair Plead No Contest in Fatal Shooting : Court: The voluntary manslaughter charge stems from a robbery attempt that ended with a man accidentally killing his fiancee.

Two men pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and robbery Wednesday in the death of a North Hollywood woman whose fiance accidentally shot her while trying to thwart a robbery.

Bryant Jerome Clark, 18, of North Hollywood and Leon Raymond Walls, 20, of Canoga Park entered their pleas in San Fernando Municipal Court and will be sentenced to seven years in state prison each for their roles in the death of Hilda Blackburn, 47, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent Cahill.

Clark and Walls admitted to police that they were attempting to rob Blackburn last February when she was accidentally shot by her fiance, Louis Roldan, 45, a veteran Monterey Park reserve officer, Cahill said.

Blackburn and Roldan were getting into their car outside the Century 7 Theatres on Victory Boulevard about 10:50 p.m. when two men wearing Halloween masks struck them with a blunt object, knocking them to the ground, police said.

One of the men managed to get Blackburn’s purse, Cahill said.

Roldan, whose nose was broken in the attack, grabbed his gun from his car and fired five or six shots in quick succession, police said. One accidentally struck Blackburn in the chest, killing her. Clark was hit once in the leg.

Initially, Clark and Walls were charged with murder in the woman’s death and faced a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted.

Although neither fired the shot that killed Blackburn, prosecutors can file a murder charge because their actions caused the woman’s death.

The plea to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter was accepted Wednesday because “neither of these two individuals went there to kill anyone,” Cahill said.

“They engaged in conduct that provoked someone else” to accidentally kill the woman, he said.

Martin Gladstein, defense attorney for Walls, said the shooting was not intentional. He said he was satisfied with the outcome of the case.

“I think it’s fair disposition to a tragic situation,” Gladstein said. “They didn’t intend for anyone to die. It really was as much a shock to them.”

Roldan had been a reserve officer with the Monterey Park Police Department for 20 years and was authorized to carry a gun, officials said. He and Blackburn had been dating for 12 years.