Riverside, CA – A prosecutor told a Riverside jury Thursday that a 38-year-old auto mechanic was “a man bent on destruction” who unleashed disaster by igniting a wind-driven wildfire that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters in 2006.
Oyler has pleaded not guilty to 45 counts including murder and arson.
Oyler claims he had been watching his 7-month-old baby at home and then went to a casino when the Esperanza fire began on Oct. 26th, 2006, as fierce Santa Ana winds roared through Southern California.
Hestrin told jurors that Oyler was a serial arsonist who set 25 blazes, including the Esperanza fire, sometimes as many as three a day during mid-to-late 2006.
The prosecutor said Oyler became more adept at his craft and liked to listen to a police scanner and kept news articles about fires.
Hestrin told a packed courtroom the case, in his words, “is about a man bent on destruction, about a man wanting to be so important he unleashed disaster on five men.”
Story by AP
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Our prayers continue to go out to the families of these 5 Firefighters that died in the line of duty.
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