The first half of a two-decade-old double homicide trial concluded on April 19 with the jury finding defendant Stephen Deflaun guilty of multiple murders in the first degree and of assaulting a law enforcement agent with a firearm.

"What began as a disagreement over a campsite ended as a tragic confluence of mental illness and murder," San Luis Obispo County Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth declared in closing arguments on April 18.

Dobroth is the lead prosecutor in the criminal trial of Stephen Deflaun—a man charged with fatally shooting two people and assaulting a peace officer with a firearm in the summer of 2001 at the Morro Strand State Beach campground.

Deflaun, 63, had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. He was declared unfit to stand trial in 2004, but that changed last year, subsequently launching the two-part trial.

The sanity phase—a scrutiny of Deflaun's mental health history—was scheduled to begin on April 20.

After an exhaustive series of witnesses comprising surviving eyewitnesses, first responders, and former members of the SLO County Sheriff's Office who assisted in processing the crime scene, the prosecution concluded its arguments in the guilt phase of the trial with an hour-long chronological summary of the alleged crime.

The crux of prosecution's arguments hinged on Deflaun's testimony that voices in his mind harassed him and told him to kill 37-year-old Stephen Wells and his 11-year-old nephew Jerry Rios Jr. and the determination that he falls on the paranoid end of the schizophrenic disorder spectrum.

"The remarks I make is meant in no way to malign or diminish the impact of mental illness on individuals, including Mr. Deflaun," Dobroth told jurors on April 18.

Describing the nature of Deflaun's crimes as "shocking deliberate escalation," Dobroth urged the jury to classify the murders as first-degree. He argued that Deflaun's actions were willful, deliberate, and premeditated—a stark contrast to the defense's claim of "imperfect self-defense."

Deflaun previously testified that voices belonging to a group called "the program" made him believe Wells was an assassin sent to kill him. He added that he initially wanted to die at Wells' hands since "the program" left him "broken" after years of disturbance, but he changed his mind at the last minute. Dobroth alleged that Deflaun downplayed his actions and viewed himself as a victim to justify the killings.

"There is no other reason for Mr. Deflaun to arm himself the way he did and make that walk unless he intended to use his weapon," Dobroth said. "If you create the situation that [requires] self-defense, you cannot hide behind it."

Dobroth is referring to Deflaun carrying a fully loaded .375 revolver with three speed loaders containing 18 rounds and additional ammunition containing another set of 18 rounds. He then exited his van parked at the campground and walked roughly two minutes to a kiosk where Wells, accompanied by Rios Jr., was complaining to a park aide about their altercation with Deflaun. Deflaun fired six bullets into the man and the boy soon after and engaged in a shootout with Ranger Chuck Jackson who arrived on scene to apprehend him.

Both while presenting its initial case and during closing arguments, the prosecution played a video of DA's Office Investigator Paul Kelly demonstrating the length and duration of the walk from Deflaun's campsite to the kiosk.

"The replay ... was solely to establish how long and how far that walk is and the timeframe that Mr. Deflaun had to carefully consider what he was about to do," Dobroth said.

The prosecutor said that Deflaun neither made mention of "the program" in his journal (presented as a piece of evidence earlier in the trial) nor to survivors of Wells' family or to first responders in the immediate aftermath of the murders. He added that Deflaun's testimony about voices commanding him to kill isn't a valid justification.

In his respective closing remarks, Deflaun's defense attorney, Ray Allen, said that the murders weren't "coldhearted" and "calculated" because of the interplay of provocation, intoxication, and delusion.

"It's a fool's errand to try and pull these things apart," he countered. "They're all intertwined like DNA."

Allen argued for the jury to present a verdict of a lower scale: declaring the killings as second-degree murders or as manslaughter.

Provocation, according to Allen, came from Wells when he told Deflaun he would report him for being a "threat" to his nephew and for smelling marijuana on him even though Deflaun allegedly didn't possess any at the time.

Intoxication, Allen said, came from the 12-pack of Keystone beer Deflaun consumed in its entirety shortly before meeting Wells and his family.

Allen argued that delusion came from Deflaun's mental illness that made him believe "the program" was out to torture and kill him if he didn't comply with it.

"He never mentioned the program because he doesn't want people to know he hears the voices, and he knows everyone already knows [about the program]," Allen said. "It's the convoluted, nonlogical part of his paranoid schizophrenia."

These justifications ended in a rebuttal from Dobroth.

"I feel as though I need to defend Stephen Wells because what I hear from Mr. Allen is that Stephen Wells was a liar ... who wanted to fabricate [lies] and get Mr. Deflaun kicked out [from the campground]," Dobroth said.

He informed the jury that delusions and hallucinations can be considered in their deliberations by law, but those elements aren't separate from deliberate and premeditated actions. Dobroth capped counsel arguments by reciting his PowerPoint presentation.

"Actions speak louder than words, but actions and words speak loudest of all," Dobroth read. Δ