Jury Moved by Testimony of Slain Officer’s Family

Several jurors wept Monday as relatives of slain sheriff’s Deputy Shayne York testified about how his death affected their lives.

The family members spoke about a wedding canceled, a son lost.

“One of the biggest parts of my life is gone,” said York’s younger brother, Brandon. “I didn’t have a wedding party because I felt my best man wasn’t there.”

The testimony came at the start of a hearing at which jurors will be asked to decide whether Kevin Boyce should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

York, a Los Angeles County deputy, was off-duty in 1997 when a gunman shot him to death after finding his badge during a robbery at a Buena Park hair salon. The deputy, 26, was lying on the floor, next to his fiancee, Jennifer Parish, when he was killed.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him and what he looked like that night,” said Parish, also a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

York and Parish stopped by De’ Cut Salon, where Parish’s sister worked, so he could get a quick haircut while on their way to a Las Vegas vacation. Their wedding was only months away.

When she returned to work, Parish started wearing her fiancee’s badge number. York had been a deputy for two years when he was killed.

“Everyday I put that uniform on it’s a reminder he’s not there to wear it,” she said.

When Parish left the witness stand, at least four jurors could be seen wiping their eyes.

At the time he was slain, York was preparing to marry “the love of his life,” said York’s mother, Patricia Steele.

“In my mind I know this has happened, but in my heart I don’t want to believe it,” Steele said. “It just rips your heart out. Most of the time I just feel like I just go through the motions of living from one day to the next.”

Before the family members’ testimony, Deputy Public Defender Mark Davis told jurors in an opening statement that Boyce suffered from a learning disability and was easy prey for Los Angeles gangs. His family had moved to Southern California from the East Coast when he was a child.

“Kevin landed in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Davis said.

The trouble for Boyce started before kindergarten, his attorney said. Boyce didn’t speak until he was 5 and when he did, he stuttered. At school, Boyce had trouble learning and couldn’t read. His family did not get Boyce the help he needed, Davis said.

“It’s not a question that Kevin wasn’t loved [as a child], because he was,” Davis said. “What this is, is a story of denial . . . and it started early.”

Boyce’s family was not in court. Davis said the relatives have not been supportive of him for years.

“If you see them in court they’ll be here for one reason and one reason alone: We subpoenaed them,” Davis said. Boyce sat staring straight ahead, not looking at any of York’s relatives as they testified.