CLEARLAKE — Kevin Stone, one of three suspects in a fatal shooting, will have to wait a week to enter his plea.
Stone and his two co-defendants, Paul Braden and Orlando Lopez, are charged with murder, six counts of assault with a deadly weapon and five counts of attempted murder.
Stone and his co-defendants allegedly committed these crimes during a June 18 shooting in Clearlake during which 4-year-old Skyler Rapp was killed and several of the boy”s family members, including his mother, were wounded.
The defendants were scheduled for an 8:15 a.m. appearance at Lake County Superior Court in Clearlake Tuesday morning to schedule a date for a preliminary hearing. Stone was also expected to enter a plea Tuesday.
But at 8:55 a.m., after Judge Stephen O. Hedstrom heard five other cases, attorneys Doug Rhoades and Stephen Carter asked to speak with Hedstrom in his chambers about resolving a scheduling “logjam.”
Rhoades, who was assigned to defend Lopez, appeared with Carter, who is representing Braden. But Stone”s attorney, Komnith Moth, was unable to appear because of conflicting obligations at the Lake County Superior Court in Lakeport.
After speaking with Rhoades and Carter, Hedstrom ordered Lopez, Braden and Stone into the courtroom and informed them that they would appear at the Lake County Superior Court in Clearlake to schedule a preliminary hearing at 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
