Man Pleads Not Guilty in Fatal Robbery Case
A Reseda man paralyzed in a gunfight with Los Angeles police officers in Newbury Park pleaded not guilty to murder charges Tuesday for the role prosecutors said he played in the death of his alleged accomplice.
Sitting in a wheelchair and propped up with a chest brace, Robert Wayne Cunningham, 31, also pleaded not guilty to seven other felony charges, including attempted murder, robbery and burglary.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s covert Special Investigations Section said they followed Cunningham and Daniel Joseph Soly, 26, into Ventura County and watched the two rob South West Liquor & Deli at gunpoint June 26.
The two men then engaged in a shootout with about a dozen police officers. Soly was killed and two officers were injured along with Cunningham, who is expected to be paralyzed below the waist for life. The two officers recovered.
Prosecutors charged Cunningham with murder because they said he fired the shots that started the gunfire.
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