Student Gets Death Penalty for ’91 Slayings

Capping a three-year ordeal for the victims’ grieving loved ones, a jury ruled Thursday that a part-time college student should be put to death for murdering two teen-agers during a robbery at a Subway sandwich shop.

James Robinson Jr., 25, showed no emotion as the jury’s decision was announced less than three hours after deliberations began in Van Nuys Superior Court. Family members of the two victims--Brian Berry, 18, and James White, 19, both of Northridge--cried when the verdict was read.

“It won’t bring back their children, but they thought it was the appropriate verdict,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth L. Barshop.

Robinson was convicted more than a year ago of executing Berry and White during a June 30, 1991, late-night robbery in a Subway store on Zelzah Avenue that netted no more than $600.

The same jury that convicted Robinson was unable to decide between the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility of parole. A second panel was sworn last month to determine what sentence Robinson deserved.

Attorneys on both sides agreed it was the brutality of the murders that convinced the jury to favor the death penalty.

White, a worker at the restaurant, was shot once through the head. Berry, who was in the shop visiting, was shot in the face and then in the side of the head. A coroner testified that Berry was struck in the face while watching the gunman fire.

The murder weapon was found in Robinson’s apartment.

“The death penalty is warranted,” Barshop said. “The defendant earned it.”

During the penalty phase that ended Thursday, the victims’ relatives, including Berry’s twin sister, gave emotional testimony about their loss and continued suffering.

During the trial, Robinson admitted being in the restaurant the night of the slayings, but he testified that both men were dead when he arrived. Judge Ronald S. Coen will formally sentence Robinson on June 17. The judge can overlook the jury’s verdict and hand down the lesser sentence of life in prison, but such a move is rare.