Periods of rain. In The Court of Appeal of the State of California. July 18: Two days after Roberto Ayala's death, Paul delivered to investigators a piece of metal he found in a canal near the explosion. Evidence Code section 352 provides the framework: The court in its discretion may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury. In other words, the trial court is accorded considerable discretion to carefully balance the competing interests in admitting probative evidence and in excluding evidence that unfairly prejudices a defendant, and an appellate court will overturn the exercise of discretion only when the trial court's assessment appears to exceed the bounds of reason. Ayala died instantly from the explosive device, and fire and law enforcement officials originally believed the explosion was an accident. Although the trial was lengthy, they took less than a day to deliberate. Paul injured his back and had to give up construction. Nothing precluded defense counsel from confronting that evidence in her closing argument. He described how the booby trap would detonate, as follows: So imagine you take a metal box, typical control panel, electrical, that has the lip that goes around, and you have that little washer pin in there so that the lip of the box, I imagine, the door to the box and the box itself has this little washer sandwiched in between them so that it can't fall down. He wrote that his father thought he was stupid, but continually raved about Roberto's intelligence. Peter testified it had been 20 days since he had been at the location where the bomb had gone off. Paul objects to the prosecutor's use of a DNA analogy. Many years before the explosion, he set up two duck blinds in a field on the farm. Gus was . The 3rd District Court of Appeals said it found no reason to overturn the guilty verdict in Paul Moore's 2013 trial. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. He stressed that Peter's history of acting out with physical force, coupled with his hatred for Roberto and his lifelong ambition to work his grandfather's farm, constitutes overwhelming evidence that Peter was the murderer. Chance of rain 100%. Defense counsel, anticipating the very strategy the prosecutors ultimately used, complained to the trial court that the first prosecutor offered only a short opening argument, whereas the second prosecutor had argued for over two hours when she once again objected to the sandbagging. 107 5th Street, Colusa, CA 95932 In sum, there is an abundance of circumstantial evidence that either Peter or Paul, or perhaps Peter and Paul together, built and planted the bomb that killed Roberto Ayala. Paul felt belittled as Roberto assumed what Paul believed was his own place on the farm. Neither cousin was happy with his place within the family hierarchy. Powered by. The focus again, therefore, is not on just how probative the evidence was, but rather on how grave the risk of prejudice admission of the old incident presented. He contends the evidence was too remote, was not probative of his knowledge of electrical circuitry or constructing sophisticated bombs, and was substantially more prejudicial than probative. THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. PAUL ROGER MOORE, Defendant and Appellant. In the second message, Peter said he had worked for 21 years so he could have a chance to farm; that he wanted his grandfather's farm to stay in the family, but his father had disinherited him; that he and Roger were now screwed and he was not going to get a chance to farm; that he had never had a father except biologically; that his father was a douchebag and had never given him a penny; that Roger could not see the Ayala boys over there ripping [him] off blind; and that Roberto had his kid driving the harvester. In describing his life, he pondered what he had done to be treated so poorly by his own family. Code, 1101, subd. There were pieces of metal shrapnel in his chest, neck, and brain. Paul Moore was convicted in August 2013 of first-degree murder with special circumstances. Nevertheless, there was probative value in establishing Paul's lifelong familiarity and experimentation with all types of electrical and mechanical devices. Indeed, shortly before the explosion, Roberto had injured his shoulder and Peter declared that [w]hen his wing is better, he's all mine. He was upset that Roberto spent Father's Day with Gus and that they were together all the time. According to the testimony offered by his father, his son, and his ex-father-in-law, that was a lie. The potential prejudice of admitting the evidence was slight. Paul insists it was his first cousin Peter who had the motive and violent disposition to murder Roberto, a man who had claimed his father's and uncle's affection and devotion. In early July, Paul was asked to drive out to the rice field to turn on the water pump without Roberto. Upon detonation gas atomized for millisecond, completed the circuit triggering flashover, thus electrocution, fail safe and no disarming. Eight stamps were attached for postage. He remained so bitter toward his father he begged his grandmother to disinherit him. So, heres everything you need to know about Roger Moore. According to Case Law, Paul Moore regarded the Ayala brothers with animosity and said of Roberto, Those son-of-a-b******, they are trying to take over my life. Peter tried to convince his grandmother Mimi to disinherit his father, confident that his Uncle Roger would be more fair. There is no question, however, that the evidence was remote in time. Furthermore, the trial brought to light that Rogers enterprise had several vehicles and machinery, which employees like Roberto were allowed to take for personal use. Higher wind gusts possible.. Roger, along with his brother, Arlan, used to own Moore Brothers Farm in Colusa, California. Colusa County District Attorney John Poyner announced early on he would not seek the death penalty. In his trial, he received a guilty verdict and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Becoming windy overnight. Since Arbuckle is close to Colusa, it is unclear whether Fabian and his family moved there, or if he just goes to school there. He took on additional responsibilities as his back healed, and by July 2011 Roger had decided to bring on Paul as a 50 percent partner of his half of the farm operation. Unfortunately, Arlan passed away, leaving Roger to handle the affairs. McNary-Moore Funeral Service in Colusa, CA. Tucker reported the incident to the sheriff and to Roger. (Evid. The jury was properly reminded to consider the evidence solely for its tendency to prove Paul's knowledge of electrical and technical devices. On tonight's episode of Dateline NBC, Keith Morrison interviews family members and investigators in Robert Ayala's murder case. The two felt Roberto received more respect than them. The text of the letter was a photocopy of the original; it too contained printed label strips made with a label maker. Copyright 2023, Thomson Reuters. He felt mistreated by everyone, including Peter. Becoming windy late. Higher wind gusts possible.. He noted that in a stack of paper, indentations can appear five pages down. Moore was cuffed and booked at the Colusa County Jail at the age of 47. He said Paul Moore is the "sole inheritor of the Moore family fortune." The prosecution need not, as we know, prove motive. (People v. Olguin (1994) 31 Cal.App.4th 1355, 1373.) Roberto had worked for the Moore brothers for 19 years. Roberto was Peter's nemesis, and it was Peter, not Paul, who stood to gain the most once he was removed. He thereafter refused to come back for any additional interviews. Of Paul Moore, Poyner said, "the guy is evil. Most of the indented impressions found on the sheet of paper matched the lines in the bomb diagram. He faces life in prison without parole Farm accidents are as old as the wheel, but was this an accident? A bomb-sniffing dog did not alert on anything explosive in the house, garage, or truck. But Peter's situation was far different. Paul concedes that the standard of review is an abuse of discretion, but he cautions us not to rely on the colorful descriptions and derisive boilerplates the Attorney General uses to describe abuse of discretion, including such catchphrases as a court abuses its discretion when the ruling is arbitrary, capricious, or patently absurd, resulting in a manifest miscarriage of justice. Rather, he insists the ultimate question is whether the court's ruling was unreasonable in light of the governing law and the facts presented. Paul was well represented at trial, and his lawyer effectively lodged these arguments, and many more, to the jurors. In the explosive expert's opinion, the evidence collected from the scene of the explosion was consistent with the diagram of the bomb, including a bolt with the piece of fishing line, pieces of a sprayed-black plastic bottle, plastic wrap, and washers and bolts that might have been part of the bomb. (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206.) The forensic testimony provided the most compelling evidence against Paul. During his apprenticeship, Paul worked alongside Roberto. Expert in Vietnam devices. 497, 508.) The settlement awarded the family $20 million as well as $44,800 in workers compensation payment. February 7, 2023 (78 years old) View obituary. Paul Wynn Jan. 12, 2023. He had been angry and upset with the Moore family since he was 12 years old. I would decline anyway because I saw target two with his girls and that I can't deal with. He discovered what the prosecution experts had all missedthat the user of Peter's computer had visited a YouTube rat trap video. Simply put, the jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that based on this evidence, Paul was guilty of first degree murder. Over defense objection, Paul's ex-father-in-law testified that Paul apologized to him for tapping his daughter's telephone when they were going through a divorce, putting some kind of recorder under her modular home so he could monitor conversations. Unfortunately, Arlan passed away, leaving Roger to handle the affairs. IPeter or Paul: Substantial Evidence to Support the Verdict. After a career of killing, I want to save a life before I take my life. Express your opinion! He did not like Roger and Roger did not like him. Of course, the evidence was damaging, for it confirmed the prosecution's basic theory of the case, that a disappointed, angry, and envious man killed the foreman who threatened him most in his father's eyes. Roberto Ayala died instantly from an explosive device that he unknowingly detonated at chest level. One of the investigators described the diagram of the bomb as follows: It's a diagram that has writing around the diagram and on the diagram. Whoever is driving that white F-250 is in great danger. Defense counsel argued the document should have been excluded because it was written at least 18 months before Roberto was killed and many of the events Paul described had occurred in his early childhood. Paul Moore, a family friend of Ayalas, was found guilty of setting the explosive device that killed Ayala after he turned on an irrigation pump at a rice field at the Moore Brothers farm. While it might sound like a humble title, Roger is seemingly quite well off. The prosecutor characterized Paul's wiretapping of his ex-wife as creepy and really unusual, and stated he taunted his ex-wife's parents by telling them about the wiretapping. She also testified the labels on the envelopes sent to the sheriff were consistent with those on Paul's file folders, with the same type of polyester backing and the same type of acrylic-based adhesive. Our criminal justice system is predicated on the fundamental notion that a person accused of criminal conduct must be convicted based on evidence that he or she committed the alleged conduct and not merely based on evidence of a criminal disposition or a criminal reputation. Nevertheless, motive is relevant, and a strong motive provides powerful evidence.
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