Jury Urges Death for Killer of Deputy

An Orange County jury recommended the death penalty Thursday for a gang member who gunned down an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy after finding his badge during a hair salon robbery in Buena Park.

Kevin Boyce, 29, glared at the jury as panelists read the verdict, then shouted at them. “May Allah kill you all, pagans, infidels,” Boyce screamed. “You all made a dumb move.”

Several jurors appeared startled by the outburst. They were quickly ushered out of the courthouse under escort of an Orange County sheriff’s deputy and declined to answer reporters’ questions.

The jury deliberated for about five hours in Orange County Superior Court before returning the death verdict. Their other choice was life in prison without parole. The same panel convicted Boyce last month of first-degree murder.

As the verdict was read, the fiancee of slain Deputy Shayne York gasped and began to cry. Jennifer Parish, also a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy, was lying next to York when he was killed.

Outside the courtroom, Parish embraced the slain deputy’s parents and other family members. She also thanked and hugged Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent and investigators who worked on the case.

York, 26, was slain in 1997 inside De’Cut hair salon--a tiny parlor across from Knott’s Berry Farm--where he and Parish had stopped so he could get a trim before a planned Las Vegas vacation. York was in the barber’s chair when two robbers burst into the salon and ordered those inside to lie on the floor.

According to testimony, Boyce discovered York’s badge while leafing through the deputy’s wallet. After obtaining the password to York’s bank card and snarling slurs like “white pig,” Boyce shot the deputy in the back of the head, witnesses said.

During the trial, Parish testified that she could feel York’s blood streaming onto her body after the shooting. The robbers snatched her engagement ring before fleeing.

Boyce and his accused crime partner, Andre Willis, allegedly used York’s ATM card to make a withdrawal, then robbed a pizza parlor in Yorba Linda. Police said they stopped the pair as they drove toward Los Angeles on the Riverside Freeway and found property stolen in both robberies in their car.

Willis is scheduled to be tried later this year.

Word of Thursday’s verdict quickly reached Los Angeles sheriff’s headquarters, where Sheriff Lee Baca was closely monitoring the case. Deputies and sheriff’s employees said they were pleased by the outcome.

“It’s obviously very cold-blooded and calculated what he did,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Wilson, who worked with York as a jailer at the Pitchess Detention Center. “He still has a long way to go as far as his appeals. It will be a long time before he goes to the executioner. But certainly it’s justified.”

Citing a gag order, neither defense nor prosecuting attorneys would discuss the jury’s decision.