CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Further police testimony and a videotape of an interview with on one of the suspects in a fatal June shooting were featured on Thursday during the preliminary hearing of the three men accused of the crime.
Clearlake Oaks resident Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 23, and Clearlake resident Kevin Ray Stone, 29, are charged with murder, mayhem, several counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and numerous special allegations for the June 18 shooting that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp and injured five other family members and friends.
The preliminary hearing moved into its seventh day on Thursday, with Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Celli on the stand to finish testimony that had begun when the hearing was last in session on Friday, Oct. 7.
Stephen Carter, Komnith Moth and Doug Rhoades – attorneys for Lopez, Stone and Braden, respectively – cross-examined Celli for most of the morning on his interviews with Orlando Lopez's younger brother, Leonard, and sister Whitney, as well as Leonardo Lopez's girlfriend, Ashli Athas, who has a small child with him.
Athas and the Lopez siblings had, according to Celli, initially said Braden was not at the 16th Avenue home of Athas, Leonardo Lopez and Athas' grandmother, Janet Leonor, on June 18, but later told him Braden was there.
Ashli Athas testified last week that she saw Braden with a black shotgun and that he said he wanted to shoot someone. Leonardo Lopez told police that he watched Braden saw the handle off a shotgun.
Carter asked Celli about arriving at the scene after the shooting, and Celli described how he tried to sort through the witnesses and victims in a larger and uncooperative crowd.
Crystal Pearls, a cousin of Josh Gamble – a cousin of shooting victims Ross and Andrew Sparks, who testified on the preliminary hearing's first day – was at the scene telling people not to talk to police, according to Celli.
“I basically told her to leave or she was going to go to jail,” he said.
Leonardo Lopez told police that on the day of the shooting his brother and Pearls argued on the phone, with Pearls stating that the Lopez brothers were going “to get what was coming to them,” a statement apparently motivated by Leonardo Lopez's alleged assault of Gamble following a graduation event on June 9. Leonardo Lopez has denied to police that he took part in as assault.
Celli also recounted how he and interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen pulled over a vehicle in which Orlando Lopez was riding and took Lopez into custody at gunpoint.
Regarding a discussion with Lopez, Celli said, “I essentially told him that he needed to tell me the truth.”
Lopez told Celli that he hadn't shot anyone, and that after arriving at the scene of the shooting Stone and Braden left the car while he stayed inside. He said he heard several shots before the two men reappeared. He also told Celli he believed Braden was the shooter.
Prosecution presents Stone interview
District Attorney Don Anderson played for the court a 31-minute interview that Clearlake Police Det. Tom Clements and Det. Tim Alvarado conducted with Stone early on the morning of July 1 at the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. Stone was arrested in Sonoma County nearly two weeks after the shooting.
Clements told Stone – who was friendly and outgoing at the start – that police didn't believe he was actually involved in the shooting, “but I don't know that without you actually telling me.”
He advised Stone of his rights and urged him to be honest. “I have no problem being honest and everything,” Stone replied, adding, “The whole situation is, I mean, it's a tragedy.”
Stone also indicated there were “very few things” he was willing to talk about without having a lawyer present. Moth raised objections earlier in the proceedings about allowing the interview to be admitted, arguing that Stone had invoked his right to counsel, an issue the court is still considering.
Stone continued to talk to the detectives, insisting, “I would never do something like that,” adding that it wasn't his nature. But he also told them he was afraid of incriminating himself.
“I'm just scared to death,” said Stone. “I got a whole city that wants to kill me because of everything in the papers and everything.”
Clements, who persisted in urging Stone to give further details, replied that he probably had a right to be scared.
Stone said on the night of June 18 he had gotten his girlfriend Leighann Painchaud to borrow her cousin's car to take him to buy drugs. Along the way they picked up Braden and Lopez, dressed all in black. He said Braden was “intense in hell” and he was nervous about being around him.
He said he dropped Painchaud off at her apartment and gave the men a ride, but said he didn't want to.
Clements asked him what happened when they got to the area of the shooting. “This is the part I'm pretty scared to talk about,” Stone replied.
As Stone continued to hold back, Clements asked, “Don't you think that little boy deserves some justice?”
Stone said it was a “disgusting act,” and Clements replied, “But apparently it's not disgusting enough.”
Stone, who said he also has two children of his own, said, “I'm willing to do whatever to get the justice for him, I just don't want to lose my life over it.”
Stone had his head down on the table as Clements asked him what he would do if it was one of his children who had been shot. Stone said he didn't to go to prison.
The detectives also pressed Stone on what kind of gun he left Painchaud's apartment with the night of the shooting. Previous testimony stated he was seen with what looked like a rifle under his jacket. In the interview with detectives he insisted he didn't have a shotgun.
Stone also admitted to crashing Crystal Painchaud's vehicle not far from the shooting scene because he was “shocked as hell.” Afterward, “I ran for safety.”
“There's still a gun out there. I need to know where that gun went,” said Clements, to which Stone replied that he had no idea.
Stone then said if they offered to let him make a witness statement in exchange for not letting him go down for the crime, he said he would talk. “I do not have the authority to do that,” said Clements.
When asked where he went after the shooting, Stone told the detectives that he went to Santa Rosa and Willits, catching rides and hitchhiking before Leighann Painchaud showed up with a vehicle which he said she borrowed but which she is alleged to have stolen.
While Alvarado and Clements continued to press Stone to tell them what happened at the scene, he wouldn't.
“The reason you have a warrant for a million and a half dollars is that we have enough evidence in this case to charge you,” said Alvarado.
“You're not telling us anything that's going to change that,” added Clements.
When he said he wouldn't talk about those details without a lawyer, the detectives got up to leave. He asked to say something, and then he insisted he wasn't a baby killer and that he was willing to do what was necessary to help them put the suspects away.
“No you're not,” said Alvarado.
“I have to protect myself,” said Stone.
When he insisted he hadn't lied, Clements replied, “You haven't told us what's happened, either.”
“Come on, you guys,” Stone said as he watched Alvarado and Clements get up and leave.
Also on Thursday, Clements was called back to the stand to address statements by a Lake County Jail inmate who claimed that Lopez told him he had shot Skyler Rapp, and that the shotgun used in the crime was dumped in a creek behind the Clearlake Police station. Clements said a search was conducted but the gun wasn't found.
Both the prosecution and defense rested on Thursday. Closing arguments will begin Friday at 9:30 a.m.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
