Jury Urged to Convict Robber of Murder in Partner’s Death

A prosecutor urged a Ventura County jury Tuesday to convict an armed robber of his partner’s murder, even though the man was actually shot by a controversial team of Los Angeles police officers who followed the pair into Newbury Park.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Glynn told the jury in his closing statements that Robert Wayne Cunningham lied on the witness stand about the deadly gunfight with police last year.

He said Cunningham’s seven-week trial boils down to one simple question.

“The bottom line in this case is, do you believe Mr. Cunningham, or do you believe the police officers?” Glynn said.

Cunningham, a 27-year-old Reseda resident, is charged with murder, robbery and attempted murder for his role in the June 26, 1995, shootout with the LAPD’s Special Investigations Section.

The 19-member surveillance squad--which has drawn criticism for following violent criminals but not arresting them until after they have committed crimes--followed Cunningham and Daniel Soly, 26, to Ventura County and watched them rob a Newbury Park liquor store at gunpoint before moving in.

During the trial, five police officers testified that Cunningham started the gunfight by popping out of the sunroof of his car and firing a pistol at the officers.

Soly, a West Hills resident, was shot 27 times and died. Cunningham was partly paralyzed by a shot to the back.

Prosecutors say Cunningham should be held responsible for Soly’s death on the grounds that he provoked the shooting.

But defense attorneys have told the jury that the murderer in this case is a team of vigilante police officers--not Cunningham, who testified that he and Soly were shot at repeatedly before firing a few gun blasts out the sunroof.

At one point on the witness stand, Cunningham told the jury that a man he later learned was an officer walked up to the car and fired a single execution-style shot to Soly’s head.

“I closed my eyes,” he testified. “I thought the next one was for me.”

But during his closing statements, Glynn tried to discredit Cunningham’s statement by pointing to the testimony of crime scene experts who found no evidence, such as a bullet casing, to support Cunningham’s claim.

Glynn also attacked the defense theory that police officers started the shooting and then tried to cover it up.

“In order for them to have lied,” he said of the police officers who testified, “there had to be a conspiracy . . . that’s incredible. Balance that against Mr. Cunningham’s testimony.”

Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom is expected to make his closing argument today, and the case is then expected to be given to the jury for deliberations.

The criminal trial is expected to be followed by a civil case in federal court filed by Venice civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman, who has argued that the controversial police team watches suspects commit crimes and then executes them.

The civil lawsuit seeks to disband or impose new regulations on the police team.