A Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered AT&T to produce records requested by defense attorneys in the capital murder case of Charles Ray Merritt, accused of killing a San Diego County family of four and burying their bodies in the Mojave Desert near Victorville.
Since April, Merritt’s attorneys have attempted to subpoena the records, but AT&T has not provided the records, so, defense attorneys filed a motion with the court during Merritt’s July 8 hearing to compel AT&T to produce the records in question.
On Tuesday, Judge Michael A. Smith, following a meeting in his chambers with defense attorney James E. McGee II and AT&T lawyer David J. Benner, ordered AT&T to produce the records.
Prosecutor Britt Imes objected to being left out of the loop. He declined to comment following Tuesday’s hearing.
McGee would not disclose the information he and colleague Rajan Maline have requested from AT&T.
“All I can say is there is some information we need for our investigation, and based on what we discover and go over with our experts, we can decide what the next step is in preparation for trial,” McGee said.
Merritt, 59, of Homeland was arrested in November 2014 in connection with the sledgehammer beating deaths of Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and their two sons, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, in their Fallbrook home in February 2010.
Merritt is suspected of transporting the four bodies 100 miles away, to the remote Mojave Desert near Victorville, where he allegedly buried the family in two shallow graves, west of the 15 Freeway and north of Stoddard Wells Road. Nearly four years later, a man riding his dirt bike in the area discovered human bones and contacted police.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators unearthed the two graves and discovered the remains of two adults and two children, later identified as the McStay family. A 3-pound Stanley brand sledgehammer with yellow handle, believed to be the murder weapon, was found in one of the graves, and the victims appeared to have been tortured prior to dying, suffering numerous fractures to their bones and skulls, according to sheriff’s reports and testimony from Merritt’s preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors surmise that Merritt, a former business associate of Joseph McStay whom investigators described as a gambling junkie and deeply in debt, killed the McStay family for financial gain, then went on a gambling spree at casinos across Southern California in the weeks after the killings.
Merritt has pleaded innocent to the charges and maintains his innocence.
The McStay family’s mysterious disappearance stumped police and captivated the public. When the family’s white Isuzu Trooper was found abandoned at the Mexican border four days after the family was last seen alive, it led many to suspect the family had walked across the border into Mexico, never to be seen again. Rumors about the family associating with Mexican drug cartels have been determined unfounded by police.
DNA found on the steering wheel and gearshift handle of the McStay’s Isuzu Trooper was confirmed to be Merritt’s, who told investigators he had never driven the vehicle, according to testimony from Merrit’s preliminary hearing last August.