RIVERSIDE, Calif. A jury recommended the death penalty Wednesday for a man convicted of murdering five federal firefighters who were overrun by one of several wildfires he ignited in Southern California in 2006. Jurors took less than a day to decide that Raymond Lee Oyler deserved to die. Prosecutors cited the horrific pain the fire crew suffered and the terror the auto mechanic's fires caused in rural areas of Riverside County.
Outside court, Maria Loutzenhiser, the wife of slain fire Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, thanked jurors and prosecutors "for putting an end to everybody's misery and giving everybody peace of mind."
"I'm grateful they put Oyler in jail and that he's there and he can't do this anymore," she said.
Oyler's daughter echoed his lawyers' claim that he never intended to kill anyone.
"That was not in his mind. My dad is not this monster they paint him to be," 21-year-old Heather Oyler said outside the courtroom.
Oyler, 38, was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder, 20 counts of arson and 17 counts of using an incendiary device. At sentencing, set for June 5, the judge still could give him the punishment the defense had urged jurors to choose: life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The jury foreman, who declined to give his name, said the two-month trial was an emotional ordeal but the evidence showed Oyler's guilt and helped persuade the panel he should get the death penalty.
link
Linear Mode
