LAKEPORT — One defendant in the toddler-killing trial told police he didn”t try to shoot anybody and called his co-defendant “sadistic,” according to audio recordings played during the proceedings Friday.
In an interview with law enforcement on June 28, Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr. admitted to being present at the shooting scene but denied being one of the two men with shotguns 10 days earlier.
“I didn”t even try to shoot nobody,” Lopez said.
He instead pointed a finger at his co-defendant, Paul William Braden, whom he said “just walked up to the fence, looked back and then just started shooting, just non-stop shooting.”
Lopez, 24, and Braden, 22, pleaded not guilty to 15 felonies (including one murder count and five counts of attempted murder) and denied more than 30 special allegations against them.
The prosecution alleges the two men fired shotguns into a group of people gathered outside a Clearlake home the night of June 18, killing Skyler Rapp, 4, and injuring five others.
The Clearlake Oaks residents have a joint trial with different defense attorneys and separate juries.
Only jurors for Lopez heard evidence of the interview, listening to about 80 minutes of audio recordings Friday at the Lake County Courthouse.
Lopez told authorities he rode to the shooting scene in a van with Braden as a passenger and Kevin Ray Stone as the driver. Only Braden and Stone had shotguns that night, according to Lopez.
Stone, a former co-defendant who reached a plea agreement last fall, is expected to testify next week as a prosecution witness.
Lopez said in the police interview that Stone was “under the impression they were going to rob somebody” on June 18 while Braden “just wanted to go shoot up the house.”
Lopez talked about Braden firing the initial shots but said, “I don”t think he knew there was a kid there nobody wants to kill a little kid.”
Braden, who was not in the courtroom Friday, denied taking part in the incident during police interviews on June 20. Audio recordings of Braden”s statements were played for his jurors on Wednesday.
Lopez told authorities Braden was joking an hour or so after the shooting, saying things like, “(expletive) Clearlake”s like Oakland now.”
Lopez also described feeling “scared for my own safety,” fearing retribution from Braden.
Tom Clements, a retired detective sergeant with the Clearlake Police Department, was the lone witness called to the stand Friday. He authenticated the recordings.
Judge Doris L. Shockley adjourned the proceedings for the day just after noon. Both juries are due back in the courtroom Wednesday morning.
