Raymond Lee Oyler, the Beaumont mechanic convicted of setting the 2006 Esperanza fire that killed five firefighters, was sentenced to death Friday by a judge who said the serial arsonist had set out to "create havoc."
"He became more and more proficient," said Riverside County Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan. "He knew young men and women would put their lives on the line to protect people and property, yet he continued anyway."
Oyler, 38, sat blank-faced beside his lawyer while members of his family wept in the rows behind him.
Before the sentencing, family members of the dead firefighters were allowed to address him. Gloria Ayala, mother of Daniel Hoover-Najera, went first.
"I will never see the children he would have had. I will never hear 'I love you, Mom' in his voice ever again. The pain of never seeing my son again is unbearable," she said as she struggled to retain her composure. "Not only have you destroyed my family, but you destroyed your own family."
Ayala said her son's room remains the way it was before he died near Twin Pines in the San Jacinto Mountains. Sometimes, she said, she sleeps in his bed.
Cecilia McLean, whose son Jess McLean died in the blaze, told Oyler she can't sleep, can't concentrate on daily tasks and volunteers to work overtime just to be away from home and the memories of her son.
"I turn down invitations to go places with family and friends because I never know when something will trigger a memory of Jess," she said. "I'm a mother and my job is to protect my children. I couldn't protect Jess and I'll never forgive myself. We have had to hear and see images that will stay with us forever. Not once have I seen any remorse from Raymond Oyler."
Her other son, Josh McLean, was more direct.
"He stole something from us that he cannot repay," he told the judge in the silent courtroom. "I hope, sir, that you sentence him to die for what he did to my brother because that is justice. There is nothing fair you can do to make this right, but you can give us a little closure."
Minutes later, the judge granted his wish.
Turning to Oyler, he said: "You shall suffer the death penalty, with said penalty to be inflicted within the walls of San Quentin."
A minute or so later, Oyler smiled and laughed with his attorney, seemingly unmoved by what had just happened.
His relatives quietly cried as the packed courtroom slowly emptied.
