Robber Convicted in Slaying

An armed robber whose partner was killed in a gun battle with an elite Los Angeles police unit was convicted Tuesday of his murder.

Accepting an unusual legal theory from prosecutors, a Ventura County jury found Robert Wayne Cunningham, 33, of Reseda guilty of first-degree murder and seven other counts in connection with a June 1995 robbery in Newbury Park.

Although he did not fire at his partner, Cunningham was held responsible for Daniel Soly’s death because he provoked the gunfight with police during the robbery at the South West Liquor and Deli.

Officers from LAPD’s Special Investigations Section followed the pair into Ventura County and watched them commit the robbery before trying to arrest them. In the ensuing shootout, officers fired the shots that killed Soly, whose back and head were riddled with 27 bullet wounds.

Two female jurors who held out during nearly four days of deliberations said they had problems convicting Cunningham of Soly’s murder. Cunningham is paralyzed from the waist down because of wounds suffered in the incident.

“For all of us the murder conviction was very hard to come by,” said one woman who declined to give her name. She cried as the verdicts were being read. “I don’t think any of us liked or were happy with our decision.”

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The other holdout agreed, but said she felt the convictions were fair.

“I couldn’t find anything in the defense’s argument to use to sway the others,” she said.

When Cunningham took the stand, he told jurors that a member of the Special Investigations Section--who never identified himself--walked up to the getaway car and fired a single-execution style shot to Soly’s head.

Prosecutors told a very different version, saying Cunningham started the fight by popping out of the car’s sunroof to fire four shots at the undercover officers.

Defense testimony dwelt on the controversial record of the special unit. While on the stand, one officer said the unit’s detectives have killed 19 people and wounded others during their surveillance operations. Deputy public defender Gary Windom argued that jurors should send a message to Los Angeles police that the special unit should be disbanded by acquitting Cunningham.

After Tuesday’s verdicts, he called members of the unit vigilantes.

“The true murderers in this case are walking out of the courtroom today,” Windom said. “That unit must be stopped.”

Cunningham was also convicted of seven other counts, including three charges of attempted murder. He faces a minimum of life in prison without possibility of parole because the first degree murder conviction included a special circumstance.