Slain Deputy’s Fiancee Describes Killing

The fiancee of a slain Los Angeles deputy sheriff took the stand Monday to recount the terrible details of his death.

Jennifer Parish was the first witness to testify against Kevin Boyce, 28, accused of firing the shot that killed Shayne York on Aug. 14, 1997. Boyce faces 11 counts of murder, robbery and special circumstance enhancements, including intentionally killing a peace officer. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

Slight and pale, Parish broke down when she testified that she and York were preparing to leave for Las Vegas in celebration of her birthday. She was 24, York was 26.

Parish testified that about 8 p.m., Boyce and Andre Willis, 32, stormed into the Buena Park hair salon where Parish’s sister Amy was giving York a haircut. They were made to lie on the floor. York was tall and space was cramped, she said, and his head rested on top of her legs. During the ordeal, Parish said she heard two assailants repeatedly kicking York, using racial epithets, then calling him “pig” when they discovered his badge.

She heard a shot, and felt blood from York’s head running on her legs, Parish said. She said she heard the gunman say, “I always wanted to kill a . . . pig.”

They found her badge too, but did not try to kill her.

“ ‘Don’t worry, we don’t kill women,’ ” she said one of them told her. But they did steal her custom-made engagement ring.

When the two left, Parish testified, her sister dialed the police while she cradled York in her arms.

“I held him like a baby,” she said. He died three days later after being taken off life support.

Under cross-examination, Parish admitted she was not always able to see the faces of the alleged robbers since she was face down on the ground, and that their voices were sometimes difficult to tell apart.

Parish and York met each other working at the Pitchess Detention Center-East in Castaic. After the shooting, Parish took a leave from her job and stayed at her father’s home in Orange County. In an earlier interview, she said she feared for her safety because the suspects were identified by police as members of a Compton street gang.

Lawyers on both sides said that Boyce and Willis left to commit another robbery that same night at a Yorba Linda pizza parlor. No one was killed, although two victims were injured.

Boyce and Willis were arrested shortly afterward, when Fullerton police spotted the Ford Mustang they were driving. Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent said the police found two guns, a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver, behind a pair of speakers inside the car. They also found the bank cards of York and Parish, as well as York’s badge.

Although 50 police and volunteers searched a section of a freeway for Parish’s engagement ring, it was not found.

In opening statements, Brent said Boyce and Willis, who are black, stormed into De’ Cut beauty salon in Buena Park shouting racial slurs and demanding money. Boyce then killed York, who is white, after finding the badge, he said. Willis, who is charged with the 11 counts, will stand trial separately.

“The evidence will establish that Boyce is a murderer, a racist and a bigot,” Brent said. “He is a murderer because he shot and killed a man, a racist because he doesn’t like white people and a bigot because he doesn’t like police officers.”

But Deputy Public Defender Ronald Klar countered that Boyce was merely the lookout for the robbery, and that the true killer is still unknown.

“There is no question that he was involved in robberies at the salon,” Klar said. “But Boyce is not the person who fired the shot.”

Testimony is scheduled to continue today.