Michael W. Clough, representing Raymond Lee Oyler, argues before the California Supreme Court that Oyler cannot be considered the 'actual killer' under a 2019 state law. Oyler was sentenced to death for the 2006 Esperanza fire that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters.
Defense attorney Michael W. Clough urges the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn five murder convictions and set aside the death penalty for Raymond Lee Oyler. Raymond Lee Oyler, who was given the death penalty for setting the 2006 Esperanza fire near Cabazon that killed five U.S.
Oyler was accused of setting 23 fires within several months and was convicted on the murder and most of the arson counts. He denied setting the Esperanza fire. California Deputy Attorney General Meredith S. White, in a filing in the case, said the 2019 law did not change the definition of “actual killer” and that the lack of jury instruction on a law still 10 years away did not taint the case, as Clough suggested.
The justices heard arguments from Clough and White for about one hour, 15 minutes in Oyler’s automatic appeal of his death sentence. Justices typically rule within 90 days.submitted a 464-page legal brief that outlined a raft of what he called judicial errors including failing to move the highly publicized trial from Riverside County, allowing ineffective counsel, improperly changing judges, failing to weed out potentially biased jurors and admitting prejudicial evidence.
Replied Clough: “The question of whether or not the Esperanza fire was started with the knowledge that it was going to go over the hill and that it was about to become a deadly fire, that’s an assumption that was never really proven.”“Mr. Oyler did not pull a trigger, shoot a gun released a bullet then struck the victim and killed the victim, but he did ignite a fire that released a devastating force, and that fire eventually struck the victims and killed the victims.
DEATH PENALTY ESPERANZA FIRE MURDER CONVICTION CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT FELONY MURDER
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