Esperanza wildfire - Oyler jury deadlocked

Update: 03-06-09 Noon - Jurors in the Esperanza Fire trial have reached a verdict

Esperanza Fire trial: Raymond Lee Oyler is accused of setting the 2006 wildfire near Cabazon that killed five firefighters. The verdict will be read at 1:30 p.m.

Oyler jury deadlocked on several charges
Judge says keep trying

The four-man, eight-woman panel weighing Raymond Lee Oyler's fate sent a note to Riverside County Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan on Thursday afternoon, asking for guidance on “how to proceed on charges on which we've become deadlocked.”

Defendant Raymond Oyler looks back during opening statements of his trial Thursday, Jan 22, 2009, in Riverside, Calif. Oyler, 38, has pleaded not guilty to 45 counts including murder and arson. He could face the death penalty if convicted. (AP Photo, Nick Ut)

RIVERSIDE — Jurors in the arson- murder trial of a former Beaumont mechanic accused of setting 23 brush fires in Riverside County, including a blaze that killed five firefighters, indicated Thursday they were struggling to reach a decision on several charges.

It was unclear which counts are involved.

After reading the question aloud, Morgan turned to the jurors and encouraged them to “step back and examine the issue.”

“Step back and it may become clearer if you look at the totality (of the evidence),” Morgan said. “You have to consider everything substantial. We're here to help. Send us notes. Send us requests. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” the panelists answered, almost in unison, before they were excused for the day.

The jury will begin its sixth day of deliberations about 9 a.m. today in hopes of overcoming the impasse.

Oyler, 38, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and 40 counts of arson and being in possession of destructive devices. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The Oct. 26, 2006, Esperanza wildfire scorched more than 41,000 acres near Cabazon, damaged or destroyed 54 homes and other structures, and killed the crew of U.S. Forest Service Engine 57.

Capt. Mark Allen Loutzenhiser, 43, Jason Robert McKay, 27, Jess Edward McLean, 27, and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, perished when flames swept over a home they were trying to defend near Twin Pines. Firefighter Pablo Cerda, 24, died at a hospital a few days later.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin said just about all the fires Oyler is accused of setting occurred within a 10-mile radius of the defendant's Beaumont apartment, generally when he couldn't be accounted for.

A trucker identified Oyler as a person with whom he spoke at a Cabazon gas station during the first hour of the Esperanza blaze, which started about 1 a.m. The man testified that as Oyler gazed at the raging inferno, he commented that the fire was behaving “just how I thought it would.”

Oyler's cousin, Jill Frame, said he boasted about wanting to set a “mountain on fire” in the days leading up to Esperanza.

Items seized from the defendant at the time of his arrest included a slingshot with burn marks in the launch pad and a how-to guide titled “The Anarchist's Cookbook,” with references on how to make bombs.

Defense attorney Mark McDonald said the charges are unfounded and that prosecutors want to blame his client for fires that someone else started.

According to McDonald, Oyler was home with fiancee and infant daughter the night the Esperanza fire was lit.

Source: Mydesert.com - Link