LAKEPORT, Calif. – Testimony that was scheduled to take place on Thursday in the murder trial of two Clearlake Oaks men was continued due to the illness of a defense attorney in the case.

Testimony in the trial of Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24, began on Wednesday.

They are alleged to have been responsible for shooting into a crowd at a Clearlake home on June 18, 2011, killing 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, wounding his mother Desiree Kirby and stepfather Ross Sparks, and also wounding Andrew Sparks, Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.

Two juries composed of approximately 35 jurors have been seated to deal with Braden’s and Lopez’s cases separately.

When court convened shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Lake County Superior Court’s Department 1, Yolo County Judge Doris Shockley – who has been brought in to preside over the trial – told the two juries that Lopez’s attorney, Stephen Carter, was too ill to attend the proceedings, which were continued.

Ashli Athas, the 18-year-old former girlfriend of Lopez’s brother, Leonardo, was set to continue testifying on Thursday.

Athas, the second witness called in the case, said Wednesday that both Braden and Orlando Lopez were at her home in Clearlake in the hours before the murder.

She said they disappeared briefly, with Braden returning with a black shotgun wrapped in a sweatshirt.

Braden is alleged to have sawed off the shotgun’s butt, and according to Athas said he was bored and wanted to go shoot somebody. “I didn't bring this gun to Clearlake for nothing, let's go use it,” she remembered him saying.

Braden’s attorney, Doug Rhoades, has called into question Athas’ testimony, which differed from that given at Braden’s and Lopez’s preliminary hearing last October in that she previously said there was no drinking or “beer pong” taking place that day.

Athas also has admitted to initially lying to police and telling them that Braden and Lopez weren’t at her home in the hours before the fatal shooting occurred.

With the Lake County Superior Court scheduled for a mandatory furlough day on Friday due to budget cuts, Shockley ordered jurors to return to court on Wednesday, March 7. Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. that day.

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