Trial set for Martinez man indicted in two 2022 killings

A Solano County Superior Court judge on Friday scheduled a January jury trial for a -year-old Martinez man charged in two fatal shootings in Richard Raymond Klein at feet inches tall and weighing pounds clad in a striped jail jumpsuit his head shaved appeared in Department in Vallejo to learn of his trial date and the setting of a motion to suppress evidence Related Articles Four injured following crash that sent car into East Bay home Oakland Two injured in Sunday afternoon shooting I m f ed mom He was hiding in a bush surrounded by East Bay police who say they now know his darkest secrets Oakland to silence police radios from masses beginning Wednesday DA Police acted lawfully in fatal shooting of man attacking father in Concord Standing behind a lectern near the courtroom s jury box shackled at the waist and legs he towered over his defense attorney Dustin M Gordon and heard Judge John B Ellis declare that jury selection would begin at a m Jan in the Justice Building The judge also set specific pretrial matters among them at a m Nov the motion to suppress evidence and a motion to sever the trial in limine motions or requests to Ellis to exclude or include specific evidence or arguments before trial at a m Jan and The trial which includes special circumstances is expected to last five weeks Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro leads the prosecution against Klein a previously convicted felon who was indicted for the killings by a Solano County grand jury on June The Solano County District Attorney s Office then combined the murder charges into one episode with alleged special circumstances Court records indicate that the circumstance is no longer a capital occurrence The indictment which essentially replaced the preliminary hearing process includes the two murder counts and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm committing murder while distributed on his own recognizance and a special circumstance for committing multiple murders Seen during a previous court hearing Richard R Klein of Martinez indicted for two killings in appeared Friday in Department of Solano County Superior Court in Vallejo where he is scheduled for a jury trial in January His attorney at left is Dustin M Gordon Reporter file Joel Rosenbaum The indictment reflects charges in the two previously filed criminal complaints that Klein allegedly committed murder on April at a gathering on Manzanita Avenue in Fairfield then allegedly again on Dec while out of custody on the initial murder charge allegedly committing a fatal shooting in Suisun City In the Fairfield development as previously broadcasted Klein was originally charged with an enhancement for personally discharging a firearm at the time leading to the death of Anthony Fuimaono Klein was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the occurrence on Oct and was held to answer as charged Specific two weeks later and held without bail in Solano County Jail in Fairfield he was formally arraigned However during the proceeding Gordon urged now-retired Judge Robert Bowers to release his client and reduce bail arguing two constitutional amendments including the Eighth excessive bail During those proceedings Chief Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn objected to Klein s release and the bail reduction citing a number of reasons the liability to populace safety the pitfall to the safety of the victim s family the seriousness of the charge Klein s criminal history his prior prison time and that Klein was previously a validated member of the Nazi Low Riders a White supremacist prison and criminal street gang with origins in the California Youth Authority However Bowers issued Klein on a pretrial services contract Then while Klein was out of custody the Suisun City Police Department on Dec responded to a shots-fired call in the Potrero Circle area When officers arrived they determined a man on the ground in front of Potrero Circle suffering from a gunshot wound Despite life-saving measures by officers and paramedics Matthew Muller died The Suisun City Police Department investigated the shooting with the help of the Solano County Major Crimes Task Force The Solano County District Attorney s Office filed a criminal complaint against Klein on Dec for the second killing requesting a no-bail arrest warrant After the second shooting investigators were able to identify Klein as the suspect and locate him He had fled across the Southern California perimeter He was taken into custody in Rosarito Mexico by U S Marshals and Mexican agents selected days after Dec and returned to the United States He was arrested Jan at the San Diego County Sheriff s Office Also in the second affair Klein was held on a felony warrant out of Contra Costa County on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm possession of narcotics for sale possession of a controlled substance while armed and possession of a controlled substance for sale He remains in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield without bail on the murder assertions and in bail on the charges listed in the out-of-county warrant If convicted at trial for the killings Klein who was convicted of a felony in in Contra Costa County faces years to life for the murders and likely more time for using firearms and being a previously convicted felon among other enhancements