Parents of Woman Slain at ATM Praise Wall Removal : Sherman Oaks: Company finally agrees to knock down the barrier, which the killer may have used for cover.

The parents of a pregnant woman slain at a Sherman Oaks automated teller machine returned to the crime scene Wednesday, and in tearful speeches hailed a decision to finally tear down the wall that may have provided cover for her attacker.

Alex and Sharon Foreman also filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages in the slaying of daughter Sherri Foreman, a 29-year-old Toluca Lake artist killed during a holdup near a Great Western Bank ATM on March 30.

Authorities said the bandit may have hidden behind the wall before stabbing Foreman, who was returning to her car after withdrawing $40. Critics have complained that the five-foot-high concrete wall continues to make the area unsafe.

The building manager, United Overseas Investment Inc., at first refused to knock down the wall at the corner of Riverside Drive and Woodman Avenue. But it agreed to do so earlier this week after continued pressure from the local National Organization for Women chapter, bank officials and a state legislator.

“Nothing is going to change what happened to Sherri,” Sharon Foreman of Westminster said at a news conference at the site, which was originally planned as a protest against the building managers. “But NOW has helped make sure what happened to Sherri won’t happen again here, to make sure Sherri’s death is not in vain.”

Also on Wednesday, alleged assailant Robert Glen Jones, 42, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, and a pretrial hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 10 in Superior Court in Van Nuys. The ex-convict could face the death penalty if convicted of murder and robbery charges.

The dispute over the wall began shortly after the death of Foreman, who was stabbed by a man who had been loitering at the site for at least two hours, according to witness accounts and a bank surveillance camera. Foreman’s 13-week-old fetus died immediately, and she died a day later.

After the slaying, Great Western Bank officials asked the building managers to provide better lighting and to trim shrubbery near the automated teller machine down to a height of two feet. Building Manager Lawrence Law complied with both requests, but balked for weeks at requests by bank officials and NOW to knock down the wall, which holds a bank branch sign.

Law said in one letter that he would keep the wall intact “unless we have no choice.” On Wednesday, he did not attend the news conference and did not return phone calls.

Several critics attributed Law’s change of heart to persistent pressure applied by bank officials, Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-Los Angeles) and NOW members. Rebecca Wickliff, NOW’s San Fernando Valley coordinator, said Wednesday that she became involved because personal safety is an important women’s issue.

“Oftentimes these walls are dismantled slowly, piece by piece,” Wickliff said. “But this is one wall that is going down instantaneously. We cannot afford to let it remain.”

Great Western Vice President Roger Cruzen, who also attended the news conference, said that at first, he never expected opposition to removing the wall.

“We thought initially that it seemed natural that if the wall was perceived as a hazard by anyone, that by all means it should be taken down,” he said. “But what was obvious to us was not immediately obvious to Mr. Law.”

It has not yet been decided who will pay the estimated $5,000 to demolish the wall, Cruzen said. The wall is expected to be knocked down in about a month.

Cruzen had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, which was filed late Tuesday in Superior Court naming Great Western as one defendant. Others named in the suit--United Overseas Investments, the not-for-profit automated teller consortium Star System Inc., and Foreman’s own bank, American Pacific State Bank--also had no immediate comment.

In the suit, Foreman’s parents say the bank and building manager should have known that the area presented significant crime risks for its customers, and should have taken better steps to protect them. It also alleges that the bank and building manager “failed or refused to comply with California law in imposing minimum safety requirements, and to take reasonable safety precautions. . . .”

The suit does not specify how much it seeks in damages for negligence and wrongful death. “But we expect the damages in a case like this to be in excess of $1 million,” said attorney Scott J. Rein.