How to resolve AdBlock issue? CLEARLAKE, Calif. – There is sufficient evidence to try three men for the murder of a child and the attempted murders of five other people, according to a local judge's Monday ruling.
Judge Stephen Hedstrom ruled that Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 23, of Clearlake Oaks, and 29-year-old Kevin Ray Stone of Clearlake will stand trial for the June 18 shooting in Clearlake that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp.
The shooting, the worst in the city's history, also wounded and permanently disabled the child's mother, Desiree Kirby, and wounded Kirby's boyfriend, Ross Sparks, and his brother, Andrew Sparks, and friends Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.
The group was in the yard of Kirby's and Sparks' home on Lakeshore Drive on the evening of June 18 when armed assailants – who the shooting victims couldn't see due to the darkness – shot through and over a fence separating the home from a neighbor's residence.
In a hearing that ran just short of an hour, Hedstrom explained his conclusion that the three men could be tried on the 16 felony counts they're facing, including murder, mayhem, multiple counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and many more special allegations.
Hedstrom's decision followed the conclusion last Friday of the mens' eight day preliminary hearing, which stretched over three weeks, and saw 14 witnesses – including Kirby, Ross and Andrew Sparks, and Griffith – testify, with police offering statements of another 14 witnesses who did not take the stand themselves.
In reviewing the testimony and evidence, Hedstrom said a June 9 fight between the Sparks' cousin, Josh Gamble, and members of the “Avenue Boys” – a gang of young men who live in the city's Avenues area – at an adult school graduation at Lower Lake High School was a “triggering event.”
He explained that the fight led to a chain of other events that brought tensions to a head.
Those events included a confrontation between Kirby and Lopez's younger brother, Leonardo, at Walmart several days before the shooting; what had appeared to be a friendly discussion between Ross Sparks and Orlando Lopez about the adult school fight, which also occurred in the days before the shooting; and then, on June 18, the exchange of angry text messages between Sparks and Orlando Lopez, who had been planning to meet for a fight, based on testimony.
During the preliminary hearing, police officers, detectives and witnesses testified to differing statements by the three men about who was responsible for the shooting.
Hedstrom noted, “We have three defendants pointing in all different directions as to who was the shooter or shooters.”
As part of his case, District Attorney Don Anderson had presented evidence and witness statements that double ought buckshot and bird shot were the two types of ammunition found at the scene.
Hedstrom said that, based on his review of pictures submitted into evidence, the expended shotgun shells found at the scene appeared to match an unexpended shell found in a borrowed vehicle Stone allegedly had crashed near the shooting location.
“When one looks at this broad overview of the evidence, this is much more than any one defendant simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Hedstrom.
He went on to add, “When you take all this evidence, it's very easy for the court to come to the conclusion, based on the aiding and abetting concept, that all three defendants are responsible for these substantive charges that have been brought against them … It's just eminently clear to the court.”
While the defense – including Stephen Carter, Komnith Moth and Doug Rhoades, representing Lopez, Stone and Braden, respectively – had asked for factual findings about the lack of credibility of some of the witnesses, Hedstrom wouldn't take that step.
Acknowledging, “We certainly have a lot of conflicting evidence,” Hedstrom continued, “The court declines at this point to try to unravel the inconsistencies and make judgments as to credibility.”
His reasons, he said, included insufficient evidence to make solid determinations of credibility. He said he hadn't heard all of the evidence, mostly because many witnesses hadn't taken the stand in the hearing.
But he said there was a “reasonable suspicion” – a standard of proof appropriate for a preliminary hearing, but less than would be required at trial – to hold Braden, Lopez and Stone to answer.
Hedstrom asked the defense attorneys if there was an objection to combining the three suspects' cases going forward.
Carter said it was highly likely the three men would be tried separately. Moth added he anticipated severing Stone's case from the combined case.
The next step will be a new arraignment, scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Hedstrom's Clearlake courtroom.
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