Pomona : Not Guilty Plea Spurs Outcry

A plea of not guilty by the suspected killer of two La Verne Target store employees prompted a brief outburst last week in Pomona Municipal Court by the husband of one victim.

Robert Shirley shouted incredulously “Not guilty? Not guilty!” when Sergio Nelson, 19, of La Verne entered the plea during an arraignment hearing, said Sgt. Henry Hoppe of the Los Angeles County Marshal’s Department. Shirley started to rise from a seat in the spectators’ section and was ordered out by the courtroom bailiff, Hoppe said. After Shirley ignored the order, his friends and relatives ushered him out.

Nelson faces two murder charges stemming from the Oct. 3 shooting deaths of Robin Shirley, 32, and Lee Thompson, 22, both of Pomona. The two were killed as they sat in Thompson’s car in front of the store on Foothill Boulevard. Nelson, a relatively new employee, believed that he was unfairly passed over for a stockroom promotion given to Shirley, a three-year employee.