LAKEPORT — The toddler-killing trial met another “unexpected” delay, as the judge put it, Thursday afternoon just as the former co-defendant began testifying as a prosecution witness.
Judge Doris L. Shockley did not specify what led to the stoppage, only referring to the issue as “procedural.”
The attorneys would not comment on the nature of the delay following the proceedings Thursday at the Lake County Courthouse.
Paul William Braden and Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr. are accused of shooting at a group of people gathered outside a Clearlake home late at night on June 18, killing Skyler Rapp, 4, and injuring five others.
Braden, 22, and Lopez, 24, both of Clearlake Oaks, pleaded not guilty to 15 felonies (including one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder) and denied more than 30 special allegations.
The men are standing trial in the same courtroom but have different attorneys and separate juries.
The joint trial has spanned nearly four calendar months.
Jury selection started in late January and opening arguments followed in late February, but the proceedings have been fraught with holdups since testimony began Feb. 29.
Reasons for the stoppages included attorney and juror illnesses, court furloughs and hearings outside of the juries” presence. Lake County trials typically run three days a week.
The most recent delay interrupted the testimony of Kevin Ray Stone, a former co-defendant in the murder case who reached a plea deal after the preliminary hearing.
In November, Stone pleaded no contest to three felonies — conspiracy to commit robbery, accessory after the fact and a firearm-possession charge. He could see more than 10 years in prison but has not been sentenced yet.
The 29-year-old Clearlake man, wearing green- and white-striped jail clothing, testified for only a few minutes Thursday afternoon before the stoppage occurred.
Stone just started talking about an interview with investigators when the judge halted the proceedings because the witness”s lawyer left the courtroom.
Shockley ordered the jurors back to their respective jury rooms for what she said would hopefully be a break of five or 10 minutes.
The delay lasted almost an hour.
During some of that time, the attorneys for Braden and Lopez and Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson, who is prosecuting the case, left the courtroom and appeared to go into the judge”s chambers. Stone”s attorney appeared to join later.
When the juries returned to the courtroom, Shockley took the bench and adjourned the proceedings for the day.
The judge told jurors a procedural issue arose, necessitating the delay. She did not elaborate.
The trial is expected to reconvene Wednesday. Anderson said Stone should return to the stand the following day.
Stone is key to the prosecution”s case against Braden and Lopez.
Anderson said in November that Stone admitted to driving Braden and Lopez to the scene on June 18 but thought they were going to rob a neighbor of Rapp”s family.
Stone told investigators that he didn”t know there was going to be a shooting and that Braden and Lopez opened fire on the group of people, the DA said last fall.
The three men allegedly fled the scene in a minivan, crashed several blocks later, hid their guns in nearby brush and left the area.
Stone, the last of the three men to be arrested, remained at large for nearly two weeks before being captured in Santa Rosa.
Sgt. Martin Snyder, of the Clearlake Police Department, was the main witness of what was also an abbreviated morning session Thursday.
Snyder testified about shotgun evidence he found at the scene, including pellets, shell casings, wads and entry holes on the home.
