Malibu Creek Murder Trial: Jury Begins Deliberations

LOS ANGELES, CA — Jurors on Tuesday began deliberations in the case against Anthony Rauda, who is accused of going on a violent, multi-year crime spree in and around Malibu Creek State Park that included the murder of a man who was camping with his two young daughters in 2018.

Rauda, 46, is charged with the murder of Tristan Beaudette and faces 10 other attempted murder charges. Prosecutors say the victims included a man whose camper was blasted by a gun fired by Rauda in the middle of the night, according to The Acorn.

Rauda is also charged with five counts of second-degree commercial burglary stemming from a series of break-ins that primarily involved him taking food and water. They include two burglaries at the Calabasas Community Center and two at the Las Virgenes Water District.

In his final argument Monday, Rauda's attorney told the jury that there is reasonable doubt and urged the panel to acquit his client.

Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu said that Rauda had a "pattern of stalking and preying on campers" at the state park that began when Rauda shot a man sleeping in a hammock in November 2016. The prosecutor said Rauda often shot victims between 3 and 5 a.m. while they were asleep.

The prosecutor said Rauda also shot at motorists at night. Ballistics testing linked a rifle that Rauda was carrying at the time of his arrest to the bullet that killed Beaudette and to a shooting that damaged a car a few days earlier, Nistorescu said.

Nistorescu said Rauda "managed to do what he had persistently tried" to do since his crime spree began in 2016 when he killed Beaudette as he was sleeping next to his daughters, who are named as victims among the 10 attempted murder charges. His youngest daughter's leggings were covered in her father's blood when she kneeled next to him after the shooting, the prosecutor said.

During the Calabasas burglaries, Rauda wore a mask and dark clothing and toted a rifle, Nistorescu claimed, calling the defendant "thorough," "deliberate" and "careful."

Investigators tracked Rauda down after the last break-in using bootprints and a scent dog that led authorities to a makeshift encampment in October 2018, Nistorescu said.

Rauda's attorney, Nicholas Okorocha, argued that "reasonable doubt" exists in the charges against Rauda.

"You have these unanswered questions," Okorocha said in his closing argument.

DNA from cigarette butts found near where authorities argue Rauda shot at Beaudette's tent come from an unidentified male, not Rauda, Okorocha said.

"There's clearly reasonable doubt," he said, telling jurors that he is asking them to "follow the law" and "find Anthony Rauda not guilty."

The prosecutor rebutted, arguing that the cigarette butt DNA was a "red herring," given that they were found at a public campground and had no logical connection to the shooting.

After his 2018 arrest following the break-ins, Rauda was sentenced to six months in jail for other crimes, gun and ammunition violations, which was set to run concurrently to another 160-day sentence he faced for a probation violation.

He was charged in the state park shooting spree case in January 2019.

While he was in custody, he tried and found guilty of attacking two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. He was sentenced to three years and eight months in jail for those crimes.

City News Service contributed to this report.