LAKEPORT — Two shooting victims testified Thursday during the dual-jury trial of the two Clearlake Oaks men charged with pulling the triggers.
Paul William Braden, 22, and Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr., 24, are charged with 15 felonies — including murder — and more than 30 special allegations in connection with a late-night shooting June 18 in Clearlake.
Authorities allege the two men fired shotguns into a crowd of people gathered outdoors for a barbecue, killing Skyler Rapp, 4, and injuring five others.
Braden and Lopez, who have denied any wrongdoing, are standing trial in the same courtroom but have different lawyers and separate juries.
Desiree Kirby and Andrew Sparks were the first people injured during the incident to testify thus far in the trial. The co-defendants face felony counts of attempted murder, assault with a firearm and mayhem related to the two witnesses” injuries.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson called Kirby to the stand soon after the morning session began.
Kirby, Rapp”s mother, said she lived at the Lakeshore Drive house where the shooting occurred with her boyfriend, Ross Sparks (the brother of Andrew Sparks).
She testified about hearing Ross Sparks having dozens of heated phone conversations from about 3 to 8 p.m. on June 18.
Kirby stated she heard her boyfriend say he was “down to fight,” but she did not know who was on the other line.
She said she got on the phone at one point and told the unknown caller to either fight or stop calling. “I had enough of it. It was irritating me,” she testified.
The phone arguments then stopped and the barbecue soon got under way, according to Kirby.
Between 10:30 and 10:45 p.m., Rapp was roasting marshmallows for s”mores when a loud blast occurred, according to Kirby, who said she then ran toward her son.
Kirby could not identify the shooters. She testified she collapsed near Rapp and was later moved to the house by her boyfriend.
“Ross was dragging people into the house,” Kirby said.
She described her injuries to the jurors, saying she sustained 20 to 30 pellet wounds to her right leg and about 10 on her right arm.
Kirby said she had no physical limitations before being shot but now has difficulty completing many everyday activities.
Neither defense attorney cross-examined Kirby on Thursday.
Andrew Sparks took the stand almost an hour into the afternoon session.
He said he was invited to Ross Sparks” house around 5 p.m. on June 18 because his brother had “some problems with some guys.”
Andrew Sparks said he heard his brother arguing on the phone that evening but wasn”t listening to those conversations.
Some time later, as the barbecue was ongoing, there was a gunshot, according to Andrew Sparks.
He said he ran toward Rapp and hid briefly behind a car.
Andrew Sparks testified he heard six to seven gun blasts and saw separate muzzle flashes coming from the fence area, one from near the top of the fence and another from where a board was missing in the fence.
Andrew Sparks said the man at the top of the fence looked bald, with short hair that wasn”t completely shaven. He could not describe the person near the fence opening.
Andrew Sparks did not identify either defendant as a shooter. He said he knew both from his school days.
He testified he went over to Rapp after the shooting stopped. “He was pretty much gone already,” Andrew Sparks said of the toddler.
Andrew Sparks said he sustained gunshot wounds on June 18 and showed his scars to the jurors. He testified he had 12 wounds on his left leg and five on his left arm.
Under cross-examination by Doug Rhoades (who represents Braden), Andrew Sparks said he was “a little intoxicated” on June 18 after drinking four to five beers and “a few shots” of whiskey.
Lopez”s lawyer, Stephen Carter, had not begun questioning Andrew Sparks when Judge Doris L. Shockley adjourned the proceedings for the week at about 3:50 p.m.
The trial will not be in session today with the court observing Cesar Chavez Day. It is set to reconvene Wednesday at 9 a.m. in Department 1.
Before testimony began Thursday, Shockley announced one of the regular Braden jurors was excused from service for an undisclosed reason. An alternate was selected at random as a permanent replacement, leaving the Braden jury with three alternates.
The Lopez jury has all seven of its original alternates.
The juror excused Thursday was not the one who couldn”t attend court the previous day because of an illness.
Carter did not ask any additional questions to the day”s first witness, Crystal Pearls (an aunt of the Sparks brothers). The two had a heated exchange when Pearls was on the stand last week.
