East Bay man faces combined murder trial in Solano County

Attorneys continued presentation of evidence to a judge in Solano County Superior Court Friday, part of arguments over whether a Martinez man charged in connection with two murders, committed months apart, in 2022 can be tried on both allegations at once, or whether the two shooting deaths should be tried separately.

The hearing on the allegations against Richard Raymond Klein, 54, and the motion to sever the two murder charges will resume on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge John B. Ellis.

The 6-foot-7 Klein, clad in a striped jail jumpsuit, his head shaved, listened intently and chatted with his attorney on Friday as the prosecution played several recordings of phone conversations he had had with associates since being arrested and held in Solano County Jail.

In each of the recordings, Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro argued, Klein can be heard encouraging friends to contact certain witnesses. “The clips are all attempts by the defendant to prevent witnesses from testifying,” Shapiro argued.

Defense Attorney Dustin Gordon is challenging to sever the cases, arguing that witnesses and issues in each shooting incident are not cross-admissible and that there are issues of the identity of the actual shooters in the matters.

As previously reported, Klein, a previously convicted felon, was indicted for the killings by a Solano County grand jury in June 2023. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office then combined the murder charges into one case, with alleged special circumstances. Court records indicate that the case is no longer a capital case.

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 released on his own recognizance, and a special circumstance for committing multiple murders.

The indictment reflects allegations in the two previously filed criminal complaints that Klein allegedly committed murder on April 21, 2022, at a gathering on Manzanita Avenue in Fairfield, then allegedly again, on Dec 15, 2022, while out of custody on the initial murder charge, allegedly committed a second fatal shooting in Suisun City.

In the Fairfield case, Klein is charged with an enhancement for personally discharging a firearm, leading to the death of Anthony Fuimaono, 56.

Klein was initially scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the Fuimaono shooting on Oct. 28, 2022, and was held to answer as charged. Some two weeks later, and held without bail in Solano County Jail in Fairfield, he was formally arraigned. However, during the proceeding, Gordon asked the court to release his client and reduce bail, arguing two constitutional amendments, including the Eighth (excessive bail).

The prosecution objected, citing a risk to public safety, the risk 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, the court released Klein on a pretrial services contract.

Then, while Klein was out of custody, the Suisun City Police Department on Dec. 15, 2022, responded to a shots-fired call in the Potrero Circle area. When officers arrived, they found a man on the ground in front of 1244 Potrero Circle, suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite life-saving measures by officers and paramedics, Matthew Muller, 37, died.

After the second shooting, investigators were able to identify Klein as the suspect and locate him. He had fled across the Southern California border. He was taken into custody in Rosarito, Mexico, by U.S. Marshals and Mexican authorities some days after and returned to the United States. He was arrested Jan. 13, 2023, at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

If convicted at trial for the killings, Klein — who was convicted of a felony in 2006 in Contra Costa County — faces 50 years to life for the murders and likely more time for using firearms and being a previously convicted felon, among other enhancements.