- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Suspect in June shootings reaches plea agreement; two other suspects set for trial
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – One of the three men accused of taking part in a June shooting that killed a child and wounded five others has reached a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.
On Friday afternoon, during a hearing to determine trial dates for the three suspects in a fatal June 18 shooting – Kevin Ray Stone, 29, of Clearlake, and Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 23 – District Attorney Don Anderson told Judge Stephen Hedstrom that a plea agreement had been reached with Stone.
All three of the men are charged with murder, mayhem, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and numerous special allegations for the late-night shooting that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, and wounded his mother, Desiree Kirby, her boyfriend, Ross Sparks and his brother, Andrew Sparks; and friends Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.
Anderson explained that he would be filing an amended complaint that would allow for Stone to plead to charges of conspiracy to commit a robbery, a special allegation of being armed at the time of the crime and being an accessory after the fact in a homicide.
During a preliminary hearing for the three men held last month, a video was presented of an interview with police in which Stone insisted he had known nothing about plans for a shooting at Kirby and Sparks’ home, and that he had only given Lopez and Braden a ride to the scene. Still other evidence suggested Stone may have taken a weapon with him to the scene.
Based on further investigation, Anderson concluded that Stone’s story checked out, thus the agreement for the pleas.
Hedstrom had been preparing to render a verdict on Anderson’s motion to join all three of the men’s cases in a single trial, as well as motions from the defense attorneys to sever the cases.
The judge was concerned about time constraints, as the trial was set to start on Dec. 7. However, attorneys Doug Rhoades and Stephen Carter – representing Braden and Lopez, respectively – indicated they would waive time constraints in order to give the court additional time to work though the motions.
Rhoades added that he did not want to start the trial on Dec. 7 with the prospect of having the proceedings interrupted by the holidays.
Hedstrom ruled that with all of the defendants in the case facing virtually the same allegations, “A joint trial is basically the rule and a separate trial is the exception.”
Based on the cases, “One trial as to all three in the court’s view would be appropriate,” he said.
While there may be one trial, because there is the possibility of the codefendants submitting testimony that could go against each other, there will be separate juries for each of the men on trial.
Anderson would tell Lake County News after the hearing that no one can remember the last time such a multijury trial was held in the county.
Hedstrom said he had considered how to deal with as many as 45 jurors for the three defendants.
“You can imagine the complications,” he said, with six opening statements and nine final arguments.
However, he said two juries – now the scenario due to Stone’s plea agreement – would be more manageable.
Hedstrom granted Anderson’s consolidation motion and ordered a joint trial for Braden and Lopez, with a jury for each man.
While Anderson and Stone’s attorney, Komnith Moth, were prepared to submit Stone’s plea agreement on Friday, because it was well past 5 p.m. and the documents required corrections, Hedstrom ordered them to come back on Monday, Nov. 21, at 10:30 a.m. in Department One in Lakeport in order to submit the plea.
He also set the trial for Braden and Lopez to being on Jan. 11 in a department yet to be determined.
Anderson said after court that having two juries in the case will save time and allow his office to present the case all at once rather than having to run separate, lengthy trials.
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