Guilty Verdict in Raymond Lee Oyler Arson Murder Trial

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Riverside, CA - A Riverside County jury has found 38-year old Raymond Lee Oyler guilty of killing five firefighters and of setting numerous Southern California wildland fires including a deadly 40-thousand acre blaze in 2006.

While jury members actually signed off on their verdicts Thursday, they were not announced until Friday afternoon in the packed courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan.

Trial testimony centered on Cal Fire and Riverside County Sheriff's arson investigators, renowned fire experts, witnesses who said they saw Oyler and his car near newly-set brush fires, discovery of the defendant's DNA at two arson sites and statements from relatives of Oyler.

The jury found Oyler guilty of five counts of first-degree murder. However, it deadlocked on a trio of small wildland fire arson charges prompting Judge Morgan to declare a mistrial on them. Court observers say it's doubtful that Oyler would be retried on those three counts.

The trial began January 22nd. The jury received the case the morning of Friday, February 27th. The verdicts followed five full days of deliberations.

The former Beaumont auto mechanic had over 40 charges lodged against him, the most serious was setting the October 26, 2006 Esperanza Fire that quickly spread up a hill in the San Jacinto Mountain range above Cabazon, just west of Palm Springs.

That fire trapped and killed the five man crew assigned to San Bernardino National Forest Engine 57 as it attempted to protect a hilltop home. Four of those firefighters died that day. The fifth died less than a week later, the same day Oyler was taken into custody.

Following the guilty verdicts, Jeanne Wade Evans, supervisor of the San Bernardino National Forest said, "We still feel the loss and we always will. Arson is a terrible crime that touches so many lives."

Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins praised the verdicts especially, he said, "when you consider that arson is hard to prove." He told reporters, "Five firefighters will never come home." Chief Hawkins said he hoped the families of the fallen firefighters can rest now knowing that "the man responsible will pay for his actions."

Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco told FDNNTV.com he was pleased with the guilty verdicts. Pacheco said, "For the survivors of the fallen firefighters, this is important so they have some consolation." He said he talked with members of those families after the verdicts were read and "they seem to be pleased with the outcome."

The same jury is to begin the penalty phase of Oyler's trial Tuesday morning. Jury members have only two choices to debate, death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.