Halloween Ambush : Slayer’s Helper Found Guilty of Killing Officer

A 26-year-old Los Angeles man who prosecutors said helped plan and carry out the ambush murder of a Los Angeles police detective was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder and conspiracy.

A six-man, six-woman Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberated 13 days before finding Ruben Antonio (Tony) Moss guilty of the Oct. 31, 1985, murder of Thomas C. Williams.

The verdict came one day after a separate Van Nuys Superior Court jury recommended that Moss’s co-conspirator, Daniel Steven Jenkins, 33, be put to death for Williams’ murder.

Prosecutors contended that Moss was what they termed Jenkins’ “loyal lieutenant,” and helped him plan and carry out the killing in retaliation for Williams’ testimony against Jenkins in a robbery trial.

Williams’ widow, Norma, who cried Tuesday when jurors recommended the death sentence for Jenkins, smiled as court clerk Cathie Gardella read the guilty verdict against Moss. She left without speaking to reporters.

Moss looked straight ahead and did not change expression as the verdict was read. He then glanced briefly at Richard P. Jenkins and William Gravlin, the two deputy district attorneys who prosecuted him.

Because Moss was convicted of the special circumstance of attempting to kill a police officer in retaliation for the performance of his duties, he faces the death penalty, or life in prison without possibility of parole.

The jury cleared Moss of two other special-circumstance allegations: lying in wait and killing a witness to stop him from testifying.

Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann tentatively scheduled the penalty phase of Moss’ trial for Sept. 19.

Williams, 42, was hit eight times by automatic-pistol fire outside the Faith Baptist Church in Canoga Park on Halloween night, 1985, as he picked up his 6-year-old son, Ryan, from a church day-care center.

Prosecutors said Jenkins had sought to hire several people to kill the officer in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent him from testifying against Jenkins in a trial for the robbery of a North Hollywood theater manager. When the attempts to hire a killer failed, Jenkins himself gunned down Williams in revenge several hours after the officer testified, prosecutors contended.

Moss’ attorneys, Michael V. White and David Houchin, declined comment, as did members of Moss’ family and prosecutors Jenkins (no relation to Daniel Stevens Jenkins) and Gravlin.

White contended during the trial that Jenkins did the killing and that Moss played no part in the shooting or its planning. But prosecutors contended that Moss met with several other people to plan Williams’ death, and drove one of two cars used to carry out the killing.

Jurors began deliberating July 25 and continued for two weeks before the jury foreman resigned because a family member was ill. A new juror was called in, and deliberations lasted 13 days until the new jury reached a verdict.

Three other men--Duane Moody, 30, Voltaire Williams, 25, and Reecy Cooper, 33--also are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Williams’ death. They will be tried later.