San Bernardino County prosecutors on Tuesday will begin presenting evidence against Charles “Chase” Merritt, accused of killing a Fallbrook family in their home in 2010 and burying their bodies in the Mojave Desert near Victorville.
During a brief hearing Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court, Merritt, 58, told Judge Michael A. Smith he was ready to move forward with his preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Britt Imes, who stood in for prosecutor Sean Daugherty during Friday’s proceedings, did not object, but said the prosecution would need at least two days to present its evidence.
Smith, who has a civil trial beginning Monday in his courtroom, asked Merritt if he would mind waiving his right to a continuous preliminary hearing so that his hearing, should it not conclude Tuesday, could resume on Friday. Merritt agreed.
Smith assigned the case to another department that was larger and could accommodate more people, including family and friends of both the victims and Merritt and the news media.
During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present their key evidence to a judge, and defense attorneys can challenge the strength of that evidence. The judge then decides if the evidence is strong enough to order the defendant to stand trial on the charges.
Merritt, a Homeland resident who previously lived in Apple Valley, was arrested in Chatsworth on Nov. 5 in connection with the February 2010 beating deaths of Joseph McStay, 40, a former business associate of Merritt; McStay’s wife, Summer, 43; and their two sons, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3.
Investigators believe Merritt killed the McStays in their Fallbrook home in San Diego County, then transported their bodies about 100 miles away, burying them in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert, just west of the 15 Freeway and north of Stoddard Wells Road near Victorville.
An off-road motorcyclist discovered the skeletal remains in November 2013, and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Merritt nearly a year later. Evidence found at the graves, and other evidence gathered during the investigation, linked Merritt to the crimes, investigators said.
Merritt maintains his innocence and is anxious to get the case to trial. He suffers from congestive heart failure and is representing himself in the case.
Prosecutor Sean Daugherty declined to comment Friday.
Merritt could face the death penalty. After the preliminary hearing, prosecutors will announce whether they plan to pursue capital punishment.
Prior to the discovery and positive identification of the McStay family’s skeletal remains in November 2013, the disappearance of the family had stumped the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for nearly three years. But detectives suspected foul play from the beginning, according to search warrants released in January by a San Diego Superior Court judge after several news organizations, including The Sun, collectively filed a motion with the court requesting the documents be unsealed.
Homicide investigators have said they will not discuss the suspected motive for the killings.
Merritt’s camp contends the prosecution’s case is built mainly on circumstantial evidence, with no hard facts or physical evidence proving Merritt killed the McStays.
“I can tell you that the police reports contain no confessions,” said David Call, a veteran San Bernardino attorney of 45 years appointed by the court to advise Merritt on his case. “Probably 90 percent of the evidence is indirect, some people call it circumstantial. There is a great deal of circumstantial evidence in this case, with multiple agencies.”
Though San Bernardino County authorities say they believe the McStay family was beaten to death with a blunt object in their home, there is no physical evidence to prove that, Call said.
“They didn’t find any blood in that house. They found one drop, and it belonged to the new owner,” Call said. “They have circumstantial evidence. They have cellphones, they have computers.”
Call is one of about 17 attorneys comprising the court’s Capital Defense Panel, a group of veteran attorneys with a minimum of 10 years experience as lawyers and a minimum of five murder trials under their belts. Call began his legal career as a San Bernardino County prosecutor in 1969 before becoming a defense attorney three years later. He has represented criminal defendants in San Bernardino County for more than 40 years.
“In my view, after defending and prosecuting more than 100 murder cases, I would call this a humdinger,” Call said of the Merritt case.