Accomplice Convicted of Murder in June Shooting of Policeman

A 19-year-old Sun Valley man was convicted of murder Tuesday for taking part in the shooting death of a rookie Los Angeles police officer.

The verdict by a San Fernando Superior Court jury came despite prosecutors’ acknowledgment that Alberto Hernandez’s 16-year-old accomplice shot Officer James Beyea. Hernandez was tried under a California law known as the felony-murder rule, in which an accomplice can be charged with a murder committed during a serious crime.

The jury deliberated 3 days before finding Alberto Hernandez guilty in the June 7 slaying of Beyea and of the burglary of a North Hollywood electronics store. Hernandez could receive 26 years to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled Jan. 13.

Authorities said Robert Steele shot Beyea with the officer’s gun during a struggle. Beyea confronted Steele after he and Hernandez broke into a Lankershim Boulevard electronics store and stole several car stereos, authorities said.

Steele fired one shot at the officer’s partner and ran away, testimony during Hernandez’s trial revealed. A few hours later, Steele was killed by police in an abandoned North Hollywood house.

Deputy Public Defender James M. Coady argued during the trial that Hernandez had been hiding in the bushes when Beyea was shot.

Calling the verdict “an outrageous result” of the 10-day trial, Coady said he plans to appeal.

“When you extend the felony-murder rule to a situation of a guy with the moral culpability of a stereo thief, I think you get a perverse result,” Coady said.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph R. Martiez said he believes that Hernandez joined Steele in the struggle to overpower the officer.

Police said they found Hernandez in the bushes about a block from the scene of the shooting.

Hernandez told police in a tape-recorded confession, which was played during the trial, that he served as a “lookout” while Steele broke into the electronics store. Hernandez related that he and Steele dropped car stereos they had taken from the store when they heard a police helicopter overhead and ran in different directions.

Hernandez said in the confession that he saw Beyea chasing Steele, but he did not see the two scuffle over the officer’s gun or the shooting of the officer.

Coady, in closing arguments to the jury, accused authorities of seeking a murder conviction against Hernandez because “the person who did the killing cannot be prosecuted.

“Bobby Steele is dead and cannot stand trial for murder,” he said.

The jurors refused to comment after their verdict.