Death penalty sought in arson case of 5 U.S. firefighters who perished

Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco said Wednesday that he planned to seek the death penalty against suspected arsonist Raymond Lee Oyler, who is charged with murder in the deaths of five firefighters during a wildfire that swept across the San Jacinto Mountains in October.

Oyler’s attorney called Pacheco’s announcement political and part of a “witch-hunt mentality” that followed the blaze.

Pacheco said in an interview Wednesday that he arrived at the decision after seeking the counsel of more than 15 family members of the five U.S. Forest Service firefighters who were killed in the 40,000-acre Esperanza blaze that raged west of Palm Springs on Oct. 26.

“Some were adamant for the death penalty, some were not supportive of that penalty, and then others were ambivalent,” Pacheco said, “and sometimes those attitudes were in one family.”

Ultimately, he said, four factors tipped his decision in favor of seeking the death penalty.

“Probably the most important was the incalculable loss to the victims and their families,” he said. “The other ... was the callous disregard [Oyler] clearly demonstrated toward the lives of those who would respond to the fires he deliberately set.”

Pacheco said he also considered Oyler’s criminal record and what he viewed as Oyler’s “callous disregard” for mountain residents -- illustrated, he said, by statements Oyler allegedly made to his cousin the week before the blaze that he wanted to “set the mountain on fire.”

Oyler’s attorney, Mark Raymond McDonald, said he and his client had been preparing for a death penalty decision since a November press conference when more than a dozen county officials announced arson and murder charges against the Beaumont auto mechanic.

One county official referred to Oyler as a “pyromaniacal murderer.”

“There are a lot of gruesome, gruesome cases.... Never, in any case, have I seen a district attorney compile a group of law enforcement officers to give speeches about the person who was charged,” McDonald said. “When you come out as strong as they did last November ... I think you commit yourself to a position that you can’t withdraw from later. It would have demonstrated wavering and uncertainty about the strength of their case.”

In March, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Prevost ordered Oyler to stand trial on the five counts of murder and 22 counts of arson for fires started in the San Gorgonio Pass from May to October, among other charges.

Oyler has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“Neither he, nor I, believe his case will ever reach the point where a jury will have to decide a penalty,” McDonald said Wednesday.

Pacheco said he expected the case to go to trial this year or early next year.

But Oyler’s attorney said he would not be ready until at least 2008, in part because he was still receiving discovery from the district attorney’s office on a weekly basis.

The five firefighters killed were Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, the team’s captain, of Idyllwild; Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto; and Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley.

Oyler is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a trial status conference.

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maeve.reston@latimes.com