Raymond Lee Oyler sentenced to death for starting Esperanza fire

Raymond Lee Oyler has been sentenced to death for starting the 2006 Esperanza fire in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains. The fire killed five firefighters, destroyed 34 homes and charred more than 41,000 acres.

The jury had recommended the death sentence.

Judge W. Charles Morgan could have sentenced Oyler to death or life in prison without parole.

Oyler, 38, was convicted March 6 of five counts of first-degree murder, 20 counts of arson and 17 counts of using an incendiary device. Prosecutors said the Beaumont mechanic had set fires throughout the San Gorgonio Pass in the summer of 2006 leading up to the Esperanza fire on Oct. 26.

Early that morning, he used a combination of matches and a cigarette to light a fire in a remote area of Cabazon. Gusty Santa Ana winds drove the flames into the San Jacinto Mountains, where they reached speeds of 40 mph and temperatures of 1,500 degrees.

A U.S. Forest Service firefighting crew based in Idyllwild was overrun by flames while trying to save a house. Those killed were Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20; Pablo Cerda, 23; Mark Loutzenhiser, 43; Jason McKay, 27; and Jess McLean, 27.

Oyler's trial lasted more than a month, during which jurors were shown gruesome photos of the dead, some of whom suffered burns to more than 90% of their bodies. But even after seeing and hearing the evidence, and after convicting Oyler of first-degree murder, the jury was hesitant to sentence him to death.

-- David Kelly in Riverside

More Eperanza fire photos

Top photo: A U.S. Forest Service firefighter visits the scene where five of his colleagues were killed on Oct. 26, 2006 by the windblown Esperanza fire's unpredictable flames. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Bottom photo: Raymond Lee Oyler in March 2007. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Comments

[Susan]

This is straight-on California law. (Also the law of most other jurisdictions.)

Arson is a violent felony - one of the originals, actually, from back in the day. If you commit arson and someone dies as a result, that's murder one.

This man knew how destructive fire is, and he knew or should have known that people might very well die as a result of his act.

[DingTank]

OJ walks and this guy gets the death penalty.

Hmmm, it looks like peoples idea of justice is get the white devil.

As a white boy that grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood, I know what you know. It's not the white man that should be thought of as the devil.

[rfkolbe]

Given: absolute horror about these deaths firefighters-- horrible -

So, after all these deaths. The State will kill again?

I have never understood this logic.

[guity]

One would have to speculate that the nature of someone who sneaks around and starts fires is going to be pretty cowardly, so hopefully this sentence will serve as an effective deterrence to the other cowards out there wondering if they should try the same stunts...

[Timber]

I wish we lived in a country that respected Christian values. "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone..."

Who would Jesus kill?

[Andrew]

This is going to sound demonic...however, burn him on a stake.Let him suffer the way he made those poor firefighters suffer.

[Richard Deight]

How could anyone do anything as unconscionable as this?

As for imposing the death penalty, it's about time. Dare to make an example out of the guy. Maybe others will think twice. The travesty is that the twenty or thirty years he'll spend on Death Row is twenty or thirty years more than those firefighters had.

At least there will be one less repeat offender.

[keith]

While this man's acts are incomprehensible, who or what grants us the right to take his life? It makes us no better than him.

[George Soros]

What do you mean "the State will kill again"?

What's the logic? Very simple: Exterminating him will ensure, FOR SURE, that he will never hurt anybody else again.

That's why you put people to sleep - Make sure they don't harm anybody EVER again...

For the same reason we gladly kill a rabies smitten pit bull who goes totally ballistic we should also kill these types of animals.

[rpilles517]

Here we go, with people suggesting he be burned at the stake to suffer the same fate of the firefighters. He did a bad and horrible thing... so let's kill him horribly. Enough already. Yes put the guy away forever, but abolish the death penalty.

[Katie]

People, we're losing track of the question here. This man started a fire--on purpose--that killed people. Let's leave Jesus out of it for a minute, there are more religions in this country than just the Christians. The law says that if you start a fire and somebody dies, you can either be sentenced to death or life without parole. Obvioiusly somebody thought that he should get the death penalty. Of course, by the time he uses all of his appeals, we'll all be dead anyway and it won't matter what we thought.

[jack]

California should be very pleased with this outcome, we hear about your fire issues every summer and they are some major issues, hopefully this will be a big deterant for future offenders to consider before their actions and there will be future offenders no doubt.

[cmholm]

Watching where fires have started over my years in greater LA, it's pretty obvious that most are started by people, people oblivious to the likely consequences.

If Mr. Oyler is executed, I think it will in fact be effective at deterring some of the other casual sparks out there. But, even if not, it looks as if this gentleman had been working really hard at getting to this point.

[El Guapo]

Capital Punishment is an effective deterrent to crime. Trust me, I know, I have a bogus city commute. Unfortunately, this idiot probably didn't mean to kill anybody. I'm not sure the penalty should apply here but I'm not related to any of the victims. I think the judge and jury should have consulted family of the deceased for the call...

[bill]

Trust me, at this point, Jesus would kill all of us!

[laurn]

hey DINGTANK how did this become a white/black thing? incase you werent in class that day...OJ WAS FOUND INNOCENT BY A JURY OF HIS PEERS therefore you are comparing apples and oranges. and it sounds like you didnt grow up in a "black neighboorhood" sounds like you grew up in the ghetto, therefore all of those hoodlums you grew up with DONT REPRESENT all black people. If i were to go to a trailor park in Southern Ga (which is where I live), i wouldnt make comments about the entire white community based on the actions of the skinheads I encounter.

do yourself a favor and stick to the topics! Thanks, and God bless ya!

[Mark]

Kill him ASAP. No appeals and no 20 years on death row.

[BLW]

Who would Jesus kill?
Posted by: Timber | June 05, 2009 at 10:13 AM

If you have read the Old Testament, which I don't think you have, God has killed MILLIONS who don't follow him. God did create the death penalty (see Deut.).

The death penalty is justified. An eye for an eye. It saves the taxpayers millions for not having him in the prison system for the rest of his life anyway. Forget about the deterrent argument, think of the states savings excuting those on death row than taxpayers footing the bill to have him alive in prison for that person's lifetime and getting better health coverage too. Think about it.

[Cap him]

He should be put to death post haste. If you kill firefighters, you're putting public safety at risk. I don't care if he 'meant' to kill anyone. Stop pussy-footing around the issue. This man murdered 5 people. I don't want my tax dollars used to give him a free lunch for the next few decades.

[Jake T]

Having the government present emotionally manipulative testimony in an effort to get the jury to impose a tougher penalty seems somehow ... wrong.

Legal decisions should be based on objective facts and criteria, not on the prosecutor's ability to obtain an emotional response from the jury.

[DD]

We should offer to exchange him for the two fine young women being held in North Korea. Rather than putting him to death, let him save the lives of two innocent people.

[keith]

You people condoning the death penalty, justified with excerpts from the Bible or whatever other reasons you tout, are just as sick as Oyler is. An eye for an eye is a lousy and inhumane excuse. Shame.

[fixie]

wow, some very narrow minded and uniformed views here. Scary really, a lot of Fox news people here is my guess. First, It cost more to execute someone than to imprison them for life.
Reference
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty#financialfacts
Also the death penalty does not work as a deterrent, you have to be kidding me. Committing a crime such as this is not a logical act. It's a compulsion and a sad defect of conscience. It's folly to think a person such as this considers the consequences of their actions.
I am most likely wasting my words on the mob who cries out for bloody vengeance. Just remember that these bloodthirsty and reactionary views are the impetus for hate crimes, social injustice, racism and xenophobia. You can see it plainly in Darfur and Afghanistan. To be a great country we must find ways to promote our culture through communication and egalitarianism. We need equal rights and compassion. Not an iron fist and intimidation.

[CoolGayDad]

Timber wrote: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
-----
OK, so I'm an Atheist can you direct me to the front of the line and do we have to supply our own stones?

[David Riker]

Yes, of course Jesus would condemn us all to death. He's been doing a pretty good job of it for the last 2000 years. I've got an idea: let's exterminate Jesus.