Nearly 10 months after the deadly Esparto fireworks explosion, the criminal cases against eight defendants are moving slowly through the courts — with most still awaiting arraignment.
A Wednesday hearing in Yolo County Superior Court showed the slow pace of the complex prosecution. The court spent much of the hearing on procedural matters: whether victims' families can wear commemorative T-shirts in the courtroom, scheduling conflicts among attorneys, logistics for ankle monitor installation and which seized phones prosecutors can examine.
Only two defendants — former Yolo County Sheriff's Lieutenant Samuel Machado and his wife Tammy Machado — have entered pleas. The others are scheduled to return June 1 for further arraignment proceedings, nearly a year after the July 1, 2025 blast instantly killed seven people.
Defense attorneys said they have not had time to review the "voluminous" discovery in the case. The attorney representing defendant Jack Lee was only officially appointed Wednesday. And the court acknowledged it doesn't have a courtroom large enough to hold all defendants at once.
"There's going to be a point when we're all going to need to be in the same room at the same time," Judge Daniel Maguire said. "For now, we will put a pin on that and discuss that logistical problem more in the future and hopefully come up with some sort of solution."
Visual displays denied
A major point of conversation in Wednesday’s hearing focused on a motion to suspend a local rule to allow visual displays in the courtroom at least until jury selection begins. The motion was filed by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.
At previous hearings attending family members had worn shirts or accessories bearing the names and likenesses of their loved ones, or carried photos of the victims.
Attorneys for all five defendants present in court argued against the rule change. Christopher Cannon, representing Gary Chan, said there was “no probative value of wearing these demonstrative items,” and that it could bring “potential prejudice.”
Rob Gorman, representing Lee, said “everybody has to follow the rules” to ensure everybody receives a fair trial. He said there is no basis to relax the restriction because “it does not prevent the family from giving their heartwrenching stories about their lost loved ones.”
“This is the largest case of this kind ever undertaken in Yolo County; every potential juror watching the news about this case is a potential juror,” Gorman said.
Matt Voller is the father of 18-year-old Angel Voller, who was killed in the explosion. He told Maguire he “didn’t really feel that I needed to defend my reasoning” for wearing a shirt with his son’s image on it during previous hearings.
“To them it's a nuisance; to us that’s all we have,” Voller said. “We're here because we were put in this situation. We don't want to have our sons on our shirts."
Prosecutor Rachel Hilzinger argued that Maguire was an “experienced judicial officer” who would not be prejudiced by the displays.
Hilzinger also said the court has discretion to control information being shown within the courtroom, and that it would be “premature” to ban personal displays because no jury is present for the proceedings.
Maguire noted that the court has been livestreaming hearings since the rule was first enacted in 2008, letting potentially hundreds of people watch proceedings.
He said the Esparto case is a matter of great public interest and that trial integrity needed to be preserved, noting other cases have had to be retried because of “improper activities” in the courtroom.
Maguire denied the motion, though he acknowledged that family members “have a right to express themselves… to let the world know the pain they’re feeling.”
“We don’t want to do this over again; it would be in no one’s interest to have a trial that was overturned on appeal because of some activities,” Maguire explained.
The rule applies only inside the courtroom. Families can continue to wear memorial items elsewhere.
Additional proceedings
Craig Cutright, owner of Blackstar Fireworks and a former Esparto volunteer firefighter, remains in custody despite posting $500,000 bail Monday.
The judge had ordered Cutright to have a GPS ankle monitor installed before his release. But his attorney, Darryl Stallworth, said no local companies are willing to go to the jail to install the device. He said one company committed to going Tuesday; eight days after the hold on Cutright’s bail was lifted.
Stallworth asked the court to release Cutright and allow him to return later this week with proof the monitor had been installed.
Maguire denied the request and suggested Stallworth use his “advocacy skills” on the monitor companies for resolution.
“I understand the position that Mr. Cutright is in," the judge said. "The court is being asked to take a risk by releasing him without the monitoring because the companies aren't willing to go to the jail, and I'm not willing to do that."
Defense attorneys also requested prosecutors not search the seized phones and electronic devices of their clients without the oversight of a neutral third party or “special master,” as there may be confidential attorney-client information stored on them.
Representatives from the DA’s office said they are in possession of the devices, but will not search them until the issue is addressed.
Cutright, Lee, Chan and Douglas Tollefsen will return to court June 1 for arraignment. Samuel Machado will return the same day for a pre-hearing conference.
Tammy Machado is due back in court June 4 after pleading not guilty to charges including mortgage fraud, filing false returns, child endangerment and animal cruelty.
Of the remaining two defendants Kenneth Chee, the owner of Devastating Pyrotechnics, was booked into Yolo County Jail Wednesday. He was arrested at Disney World in Florida April 9 on a fugitive from justice charge and later extradited back to California.
The final defendant, Ronald Botelho III, remains in custody in Del Norte County, where he was arrested in December based on information related to the Esparto investigation. The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office previously told CapRadio Botelho will face charges there, and later be returned to Yolo County.
