LAKEPORT, Calif. – The judge presiding over the trial of two local men facing charges for a June 2011 shooting that claimed a young boy's life and wounded five others has deferred a ruling on mistrial motions submitted by the defense.
Judge Doris Shockley said Wednesday morning that she will entertain the motions again – filed on behalf of defendants Paul William Braden, 22, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24 – once she's heard testimony from two additional witnesses.
In addition, Shockley said she wants to address the case's Miranda issues – which involve law enforcement notifying a suspect of their rights at the time of questioning – before making a ruling on the motions.
Braden and Lopez are accused of having shot into a crowd of people at a barbecue at a Clearlake home late on the night of June 18, 2011, killing 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, wounding his mother and her boyfriend, and leaving three others wounded as well.
Last week, District Attorney Don Anderson had questioned Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Celli about statements made by Lopez during the investigation. Lopez is alleged to have told investigators that he and Braden both were riding in a car driven by a former codefendant, Kevin Stone.
Braden's defense attorney, Doug Rhoades, objected on the grounds that it violated case law established by People v. Aranda and Bruton v. United States, which prevent the presentation of testimony by a defendant that incriminates a codefendant.
Rhoades and Lopez's attorney, Stephen Carter, filed mistrial motions on Monday, with Anderson filing his response on Tuesday.
In a hearing that ran just over an hour, the defense attorneys argued that Celli's statement in front of both juries was prejudicial to both defendants.
“I don't think the court has any doubt an error occurred, it's what's the impact,” Rhoades said.
Carter argued that Judge Stephen Hedstrom, who had ruled that the two cases be joined for trial, erred in doing so. “The joinder set us up for where we are now,” said Carter, arguing that the defendants had inconsistent defenses.
The court worked hard to create a two-jury trial to satisfy all of the concerns, but Carter said Anderson's mistake affected Braden's rights to confrontation and also impacted Lopez's rights.
He said Lopez was asking for a finding of prosecutorial misconduct by Anderson. He said improper questioning is misconduct that becomes egregious if it violates a previous court ruling.
Carter said Miranda hearings were scheduled to deal with the clients' statements during the investigation. “Mr. Anderson bulldozed that last week.”
If a mistrial were granted in Braden's case and not Lopez's, Carter said there would be an impact on the remaining jury, which would wonder where Braden, his attorney and the other jury went.
“The fairness of the process is so heavily impacted by what Mr. Anderson did last week that I fear it is impossible for Mr. Lopez to get a fair trial in this trial if it continues now,” Carter said.
In response to the mistrial motions, Anderson said he wasn't trying to hide the fact that he erred during questioning.
“It was an error, it was a mistake, and I will take full responsibility for the mistake,” he said.
However, Anderson argued that it was a harmless error and that the testimony that came out during his questioning did not necessitate a mistrial.
“In this case there is overwhelming evidence of two things,” he said.
First, Braden was in the car with Lopez and Stone, Anderson argued. Second, he alleged that there was “overwhelming evidence” of Braden's guilt in the case.
Anderson suggested that the court could take one of two actions – deny the mistrial motions outright and give an admonishment to the jury to disregard Celli's statement, or defer a ruling to a later time after more evidence is in.
He also argued regarding the joinder issues Carter raised that it's done and it's time to move forward.
“This motion is premature at this time,” he said.
Carter, in responding to Anderson, said regarding the joinder issue, “That's it? It's done, time to move forward, after they've trashed the case?”
He added, “Where is the concern for a fair trial for my client?”
Shockley, in discussing the motions, first addressed Judge Hedstrom's decision on joining the cases.
She said it was within Hedstrom's right to do. “I'm not going to relitigate that issue here,” she said, adding that an appellate court could take it up later if it wished.
“That leaves us with addressing what's happened in the context of this dual jury,” she said.
The trial had been set up in such a manner as to avoid Aranda error, Shockley said. She said Aranda error clearly took place, noting that Anderson conceded that.
She said she found there had been prosecutorial misconduct; while not malicious, it was “error so obvious” that it should not have happened.
Shockley said she did not feel that the defense's position was as clear cut as they would have liked due to the case law.
She said she would defer a ruling on the mistrial motion until she had heard testimony from jailhouse informant Daniel Loyd and former codefendant Kevin Stone, and after she had held hearings on Miranda issues with the prosecution and defense.
She said she was prepared to give an admonition to the jury to ignore Celli's testimony in its entirety.
After a break, the juries were brought in briefly to be instructed on when next to appear.
“I am so grateful for your patience,” Shockley told the jurors. “We have been working hard on this case.”
She ordered the Braden jury to be back at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 9, and at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 10. The Lopez jury will appear alone at 9 a.m. Friday, May 11.
Then, “we will all be together again” at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 16, Shockley said.
She reminded jurors that they are not to speculate about why they are called at certain times and not others.
Shockley apologized for the delays and again thanked jurors for their patience.
When one juror asked about an end date, Shockley estimated May 25.
The prosecution and defense will work on Miranda issues regarding Lopez out of the jury's hearing on Wednesday afternoon and will discuss jury instructions on Thursday, Shockley said.
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