POMONA : Jury Recommends Death in Murder During Robbery

A jury recommended the death penalty Friday for a 23-year-old Moreno Valley man convicted of murdering West Covina activist Raymond G. Shield during a 1990 robbery spree.

Paul Watkins had little reaction to the verdict in the penalty phase of his trial. The same Pomona Superior Court jury recommended life in prison Thursday for Watkins’ accomplice, Lucien Martin, 20, of Gardena, also convicted of murder. Both men will be sentenced April 20.

According to testimony in their trial, Watkins and Martin stole a truck in Riverside and went on a robbery spree that ended with Watkins fatally shooting Shield at the West Covina Holiday Inn.

The 61-year-old engineering consultant had dropped off his wife, daughter and two grandchildren at the hotel to catch an airport shuttle bus. He was a former board member of the San Gabriel Valley Symphony Assn. and had been on an advisory board to study building a city-funded cultural center.