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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A young woman who was shot and seriously wounded in a June 2011 attack that claimed the life of her 4-year-old son took the stand on Thursday in the trial of the two men accused of the crime.
Desiree Kirby testified for a few hours in the trial of Paul William Braden, 22, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24, who on June 18, 2011, are alleged to have shot into a crowd at the Lakeshore Drive home in Clearlake that Kirby and boyfriend Ross Sparks shared along with her 4-year-old son, Skyler Rapp, and the couple’s baby daughter.
Braden and Lopez are facing 15 counts including murder for the death of the child, who was shot and died at the scene, and numerous attempted murder, mayhem and other charges for injuring Kirby, Sparks, Andrew Sparks, Joey Armijo and Ian Griffith.
Braden is represented by attorney Doug Rhoades, and Lopez by attorney Stephen Carter.
Kirby described the events of the evening, and under questioning by District Attorney Don Anderson she described her own serious wounds, which have left her with permanent injuries to her right arm and right leg.
She was struck by a barrage of shotgun fire that has led to multiple surgeries, and left her with still more pellets yet to be removed from her arm, leg and knee cap. She said she was supposed to have surgery a week ago on her reconstructed arm, where a metal rod is about to push out.
Her arm, right hand and lower leg have suffered permanent nerve damage, and she no longer has a full range of motion with her right arm.
She said she can no longer take care of herself or her young daughter.
“It just ruined my whole life,” Kirby said.
Although only in her early 20s, Kirby’s injuries have left her with an arthritic knee and difficulty walking.
Recalling muzzle flashes
Andrew Sparks followed Kirby to the stand on Thursday afternoon.
He said he had known both Lopez and Braden from school, and had never had problems with them until the June 2011 shooting.
On the day of the shooting, Sparks said he had been home most of the day, and about 5 p.m. was called by his brother, Ross Sparks, and asked to come to the Lakeshore Drive residence.
“He just asked me to come over because he had some problems with some guys,” said Andrew Sparks, explaining that he got to his brother’s home about 6 p.m.
He recalled about 12 people were at the home at various points. During the afternoon, he said his brother was on the phone on and off.
“I could hear him yelling and arguing with someone but I really wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying,” Sparks said.
His aunt, Crystal Pearls, also was on the phone arguing with someone at one point, Sparks said.
Sparks said he hung out, had four to five beers and some shots of Jack Daniels. “I was probably a little intoxicated.”
Later that night, Skyler was roasting marshmallows and Sparks was talking to Kirby near the barbecue when he heard the first shot.
When Anderson asked how many shots he heard, Sparks responded, “I couldn’t even tell you. It sounded like a lot.”
The shots were coming from the fence separating Sparks’ and Kirby’s residence from that of neighbor Curtis Eeds, Andrew Sparks said.
Sparks said he saw a man sitting on the top of the fence – or, as he described later, standing on a washing machine in Eeds’ backyard – and saw muzzle flashes through a notch in the top of the fence.
“I could tell that he had no hair,” he said of the first shooter.
He also saw muzzle flashes coming from an area of the fence where a board was missing.
Sparks ran and hid behind a vehicle parked in the yard until the shooting stopped. He said he then tried to pick up Skyler.
“He wasn’t breathing. He was pretty much gone already,” Sparks said.
He said he left the child where he fell. “His mom told me to leave him alone.”
Sparks said he went to the home, where several people were piled on top of each other in the doorway. His brother was helping Kirby.
“She had blood all over her. She was screaming for help,” he said.
Armijo was on the floor as well. “He was pretty messed up, too,” said Sparks, recalling seeing wounds on Armijo’s arm.
Sparks himself also was shot. “I knew I got shot but I didn’t know how many times or where,” he said.
In all, he said he suffered 12 wounds to his leg and five to his arm. Anderson asked him to show his scars to the juries, which he did.
Rhoades asked Sparks about his statement that he could see a person shooting who had a bald head, which Rhoades pointed out differed from Sparks’ statements in the case’s preliminary hearing last fall, when he said the person had short hair.
Sparks, who has very short hair, said the person’s hair was about the length of his. He said he couldn’t tell much about the second shooter.
The trial will reconvene at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 4.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) will conduct its fourth manual snow survey, Monday, April 2, at 11 a.m. near Echo Summit off Highway 50.
It is expected that manual measurements of snowpack water content will corroborate the low electronic readings from remote sensors up and down the state’s mountain ranges.
Electronic readings on Thursday indicated that statewide, water content in the snowpack is only 51 percent of normal for the date, and 50 percent of the average April 1 measurement when the snowpack is normally at its peak before the spring melt.
Surveyors from DWR and cooperating agencies today will fan out to numerous sites for the fourth of five manual snow surveys made each winter to forecast the amount of frozen water that will trickle into streams, reservoirs and aquifers when the snow melts this spring and early summer.
This winter’s unusually dry conditions to date have principally been caused by a high pressure ridge along California’s coast that has diverted most storms to the north.
One bright spot this year is the state’s good reservoir storage, due to conserved runoff from last winter’s storms.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is at 106 percent of average for the date (82 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity), Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 99 percent of its normal storage level for the date (81 percent of capacity).
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, an important storage reservoir south of the Delta, is at 94 percent of average for the date (86 percent of its capacity of 2,027,840 acre-feet).
San Luis is a critically important source of water for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project when pumping from the Delta is restricted or interrupted.
Statewide, reservoir storage is 106 percent of normal for the date.
Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ .
Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action .
See DWR’s new Water Conditions page at http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/ .
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
EDITOR'S NOTE: The second paragraph has been corrected to reflect that silver bars and gold coins – not gold bars and silver coins, as originally reported – were seized as part of the operation.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Thursday announced the arrests of 14 individuals across three states and the seizure of 1,300 pounds of processed marijuana as part of a multi-state illegal drug trafficking ring.
The operation also resulted in the seizure of eight firearms, $415,855 in cash, $35,000 in silver bars and gold coins, and three generators valued at $20,000.
"At the California Department of Justice, our special agents target criminal enterprises running drugs, guns and human beings up and down California," said Attorney General Harris. "In this case, we have shut down a large-scale drug trafficking operation that went beyond California's borders."
On March 8, a California Department of Justice drug task force, the Mountain and Valley Marijuana Investigation Team (MAVMIT), received a tip regarding a large crate being shipped from a private shipping company in West Sacramento to Chicago.
As part of a parcel interdiction investigation, MAVMIT agents recovered approximately 80 pounds of high grade marijuana.
The empty crate was shipped to Chicago, where law enforcement officials followed two individuals, Dillon Hudson and Jon Stansfield, to Milwaukee, WI.
The team arrested the two men and recovered an additional 120 pounds of marijuana and $300,000 in cash.
MAVMIT executed a search warrant on Dillon Hudson's ranch in Placerville and seized 946 pounds of processed marijuana, 2 pounds of hash, 8 firearms, $100,000 in cash, $35,000 in silver bars and gold coins, three generators and two all terrain vehicles.
Hudson and Stansfield were arrested in Milwaukee. Eleven other adults arrested in California were employed to trim and process the marijuana, and were paid $250 to $400 per pound.
Those arrested face felony charges of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sales, sales and trafficking of marijuana, conspiracy, and being armed in the commission of a felony, and were booked in the El Dorado County Jail. Hudson and Stansfield were booked in Chicago pending federal charges.
Additionally, a second large ranch in Pilot Hill was identified through the investigation as belonging to the Hudson drug trafficking organization.
Agents served a search warrant at this location, and recovered an indoor marijuana grow and over 73 pounds of processed marijuana and packaging materials for shipping the marijuana.
During the search in Pilot Hill, agents identified Kenneth Hayes as being involved in Hudson's drug trafficking organization.
Hayes was arrested at the Sacramento International Airport by MAVMIT agents without incident upon his return to Sacramento from Wisconsin.
Hayes was arrested on felony charges of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sales, sales and trafficking of marijuana, and conspiracy and booked into the El Dorado County Jail.
Also seized were the property in Pilot Hill, with an estimated value of $450,000, the property in Placerville, estimated value $300,000, a condo in Indonesia belonging to Hayes with estimated value $17,000, and several bank accounts.
MAVMIT is seeking federal indictments on the 13 individuals who were arrested. Currently they are being held on state charges at the County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Investigators are assessing the cause of a Thursday morning fire that damaged a Clearlake home.
The fire, which occurred in a single family home in the Meadowbrook Drive area, was first reported at about 6:46 a.m., with firefighters on scene five minutes later, according to Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta.
Four engines, two medic units, a chief and battalion chief responded, with mutual aid from Northshore Fire and South Lake County Fire also called. Sapeta said a total of 20 personnel were on scene.
Firefighters were able to secure two nearby structures that were exposed to the fire, he said.
Downed wires complicated the firefighting effort, Sapeta added.
Sapeta said the fire was contained just after 7:30 a.m.
Sixty percent of the home was damaged, and the residents were displaced. Sapeta said the Red Cross responded to assist with temporary housing.
He said the fire is still under investigation.
“They're still out there processing,” he said of investigators.
John Jensen contributed to this report.
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