Cop's Job Application Lands Him In Jail For Hollywood Murder

LOS ANGELES, CA — A reputed former gang member-turned-federal police officer was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in a 1987 killing during an attempted carjacking in Hollywood.

Pierre Romain, 53, was tied to the shooting death of 21-year-old Jade Maurice Clark by cold case detectives using DNA from a .25-caliber slug.

The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated less than two days before finding Romain guilty of murder and finding true an allegation that he personally used a gun.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered Romain to be taken into custody while awaiting sentencing, set for Sept. 15. He faces up to 27 years to life in state prison.

"It's too dangerous to tempt him to flee," Fidler said, as Romain handed some items from his suit pockets to his lawyer and deputies handcuffed him.

Clark's mother, Yolanda, who asked that her last name not be used, cried quietly as the verdict was read and thanked jurors as a group outside the courtroom.

"This has been a 30-year journey," she said. "You'll never, ever, ever have any idea of how thankful I am."

One juror stepped up and hugged her.

Prosecutors said Romain was a 22-year-old gang member at the time of the June 29, 1987, killing. Police said Romain had crashed a friend's customized Nissan 300 ZX just before he and an accomplice tried to take a nearly identical model from Clark, who was parked outside a club at 845 N. Highland Ave.

Romain was wounded in the arm in trading shots with the fatally injured Clark, who had a .25-caliber pistol under his seat, police said.

Romain and an accomplice were arrested about a month after the shooting, but charges were dismissed at a preliminary hearing based on insufficient evidence. At the time of that first arrest, Romain was an active candidate for a job as a Los Angeles Police Department officer.

Romain was arrested again in 2003 while employed as a police officer at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo.

At the time of his 2003 arrest, Romain had applied for a job with the San Francisco Police Department. A call from SFPD background investigators prompted LAPD Detective Rick Jackson to reexamine physical evidence from the cold case shooting.

More sophisticated DNA testing technology allowed detectives to use a bullet fired from Clark's gun to tie Romain to the case.

Romain's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, denied that his client was ever a gang member.

"He was a trained policeman ... Everything he did was inconsistent with gang membership," McKesson said in his closing argument.

McKesson said his client's career was left "in limbo" as a result of the "false allegations" against him.

Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef said the DNA evidence was undeniable.

"There is no getting around the DNA," Mokayef told jurors.

The victim's mother praised cold case detectives for never giving up on her son's case.

"It does work .. delay doesn't mean denied," she said.

By ELIZABETH MARCELLINO, City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock