Arson-Murder Trial Against Raymond Lee Oyler Begins for Death of Five Firefighters in 2006 Esperanza Wildfire

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The arson-murder trial for a Southern California man charged with setting a fire that left five firefighters dead is underway at the Riverside County, California Hall of Justice.

With a jury of nine women and three men officially seated in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin, began his opening remarks by describing 38-year old Raymond Lee Oyler as, "A serial arsonist, a man bent on destruction who created the perfect storm of a fire."

The prosecutor claimed that in the early morning hours of October 26, 2006 Oyler purposely started what eventually became the deadly 43,000-acre Esperanza Fire in the San Jacinto Mountain range above the city of Cabazon, near Palm Springs.

Oyler, claimed the prosecutor, used a cigarette and several wooden matches wrapped with a rubber band that ignited an inferno that later in the morning overran 5 U.S. Forest Service firefighters crouched next to their melting truck parked in front of a home they were defending in firestorm temperatures of up to 1,300 degrees fanned by 40mph Santa Ana winds. He said three of the firefighters died at that hilltop location, two died later in hospitals.

Using arson investigator photos along with surveillance and undercover videotape Hestrin outlined other area wildland fires started in a similar manner. He also claimed that a cigarette found at one of the points of ignition contained the defendant's DNA.

Hestrin said that following each of those fires an older model Ford Tauris was seen leaving the area. The prosecutor then produced a photo for the jury of that car in the parking lot of a Beaumont apartment complex where Oyler lived.

The prosecution also told the jury that Oyler's live-in girlfriend and a cousin will testify during the trial that they heard Oyler, on several occasions, take credit for setting a number of Inland Empire area wildland fires.

Oyler's defense attorney, Mark McDonald, told the jury that the prosecution does not have valid DNA evidence or witnesses to connect Oyler to the Esperanza fire. In an FDNNtv.com interview outside the courtroom McDonald accused the prosecution of working on "theories only" in this case.

In a hearing, not in front of the jury, McDonald failed to gain Judge Morgan's permission to admit into evidence that another possible arsonist, identified as former U. S. Forest Service investigator Michael McNeil, was found to be in the same Riverside County area when other wildland fires erupted that year.

McNeil, unable to post bail, sits in a Los Angeles area jail facing arson and criminal threat charges in connection with a number of suspicious California fires.

With more than 100 witnesses set to be heard, it's most likely the jury will not be able to begin its deliberations until the end of March or the first week of April.

Oyler, who remains behind bars without bail, faces the death penalty if convicted.

To watch weekly updates on the progress of the trial click on the links below:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3