LAKEPORT — Closing arguments concluded Friday in the toddler-killing trial of Paul William Braden.
Closing arguments for co-defendant Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr. concluded Thursday. The Lopez jury found him guilty of all counts and allegations after deliberating for around four hours.
Braden, 22, and Lopez, 24, face 15 felonies (including one murder count and five counts of attempted murder) and nearly three dozen special allegations in connection to a fatal shooting in Clearlake late last spring.
Authorities allege the two Clearlake Oaks residents fired shotguns at a group of people gathered for a late-night party on June 18, killing Skyler Rapp, 4, and injuring five others.
Braden and Lopez, who pleaded not guilty to the counts and denied the special allegations, are standing trial in the same courtroom but have different attorneys and separate juries.
District Attorney Don Anderson alleged Braden was making threats against Ross Sparks, a victim in the shooting, and intended to kill Sparks and members of his family.
Anderson alleged Lopez and Braden left a party together to pick up a shotgun. When they returned later, Braden was carrying it wrapped up in a sweater. Anderson said Braden sawed off the butt of the shotgun and began putting shells in and ejecting them out of the gun.
Lopez later contacted Kevin Stone via text message regarding a robbery. Stone picked up the two men, whom he said were both in possession of shotguns. After driving to Stone”s house, where he picked up a .22-caliber rifle, he drove the men to an area of Clearlake Park near where Sparks lived.
Stone testified the men walked through a backyard and approached a fence, with Lopez leading the way. Stone said Braden opened fire, shooting over the fence into a courtyard where Sparks, Rapp and others were gathered. He said he saw Braden fire three rounds before he turned and ran. Stone said he never saw Lopez fire a gun, but did see him walk away from an area with a hole in the fence and heard an additional three to five gunshots.
Anderson said numerous witnesses in the courtyard party reported seeing two muzzle flashes, one from above the fence and one from a hole in the fence.
Braden”s attorney, Doug Rhoades said Braden did not have any “bad blood” with Sparks or any members of his family.
He said Stone and inmate Daniel Lloyd were the only people who placed Braden at the scene of the shooting. He said Stone was, in his own words, “trying to save his own (expletive),” laying the blame on others and minimizing his own involvement.
Rhoades said Braden initially denied being at the scene of the shooting in a police interview one day after the shooting and maintained his innocence.
The Braden jury was given final instructions on the verdict form and was released. The jurors are set to begin deliberating Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
