Raymond Lee Oyler, charged with setting two dozen fires including the deadly Esperanza, CA, fire in 2006 that killed the five well-known firefighters, goes on trial today for murder. Using arson experts, Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin seeks to show Oyler as a serial arsonist who set fires using red-tipped wooden matches bundled around a cigarette with rubber bands or duct tape in 23 fires. SouthernLedger.com also reports:
"The evidence is going to show that there was a series of fires started by Mr. Oyler, that the devices that Mr. Oyler used had distinct similarities, and that there's an evolution in the devices," Hestrin said during a preliminary hearing last March. Defense attorney Mark McDonald tried to get the trial moved from Riverside County, claiming intense pretrial publicity and "a lynch mob atmosphere" in the community would make it impossible to choose jurors who have no opinions about the case.
