Ex-convict receives life without parole for 1983 death of LAPD officer

An ex-convict in California received a life sentence without parole on Monday for the 1983 death of a Los Angeles Police Department officer during a traffic stop.

Kenneth Earl Gay, 65, was convicted in August for the June 1983 first-degree murder of Paul Verna, a husband and father of two sons, according to a report.

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Gay was also convicted on true special-circumstance allegations of murder to avoid lawful arrest and murder of a peace officer during the performance of his duty, but there was no unanimous consensus over whether Gay personally used a gun during the crime, the report noted.

The 65-year-old had been convicted and sentenced to death in the case, but an initial conviction had been reversed by the state Supreme Court, and his death sentence had been reversed at least twice.

Gay’s case was sent back, most recently, for retrial during the guilt phase because he had reportedly been “denied his constitutional right to the assistance of competent counsel.”

Following the election of District Attorney George Gascon, the county DA office had elected not to seek the death penalty during the retrial, and it attempted to dismiss the special circumstance allegations, according to the report.

That bid to remove the allegations, which carried with them the potential of a life sentence without parole, was rejected by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky.

A defense motion for a new trial was also rejected, as Zacky cited the suffering of Verna’s family as “immeasurable.”

The judge had “never had a trial like this before,” filled with “tortured history,” he said.

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The “last thing I want to do is create an issue where this has to be tried again,” Zacky said. “I really do hope that this is the end of the road for this case.”

Gay and his defense lawyer maintained his innocence and put the full blame for Verna’s death on his partner Raynard Cummings, according to the report.