Jury to begin deliberating next week in Ridgecrest murder trial

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Jurors next week will begin deciding the fate of two men charged with murder in what a prosecutor called the “incredibly brutal” killing of a Ridgecrest man in 2022.

Closing arguments wrapped Friday in the trial of Brian Coykendall, 34, and Erwin Moore Jr., 30, and the jury will return Monday morning to start deliberating.

Both men are charged with first-degree murder and face life terms in prison if convicted.

Prosecutor Christine Antonios has said the two had an agreement to kill Matthew Ian Peterson.

Peterson, 43, and Coykendall had once been friends, but when Peterson went to jail Coykendall started dating his girlfriend. If Peterson returned, Antonios said, Coykendall planned to get rid of him.

Peterson was severely beaten and shot once in the back of the head on March 4, 2022. When found, his hands were bound behind his back.

The evidence, including phone calls and text messages, suggests Coykendall and Moore had an agreement in place in which Moore — who lives outside the county — would drive to Ridgecrest and assist Coykendall in the slaying when Peterson showed up, the prosecutor said.

She pointed to lies the defendants made. Everything Coykendall told investigators during his initial interview was false, Antonios said.

Coykendall never mentioned self-defense when arrested. If Peterson’s death resulted from an act of self-defense, she said, that’s the first thing he would have told investigators.

“He would have been shouting it from the rooftops if that was actually true,” Antonios said. “But it’s not.”

Deputy Public Defender T. Alan Rogers, Coykendall’s attorney, told the jury Antonios was quick to paint the defendants as liars. But he said the biggest liar in this case was Peterson.

Peterson gave two of his best friends “completely different stories” as to why he was visiting Ridgecrest that day, Rogers said. He manipulated and deceived others, doing his best to conceal his real reason for returning — to get his girlfriend back.

Rogers described Peterson as “obsessed” with his ex. He wouldn’t let her go, the attorney said, arguing the killing happened in self-defense.

Defense attorney Mark Anthony Raimondo, representing Moore, said this case isn’t about a crime, but a tragedy. He said his client went from being an honorable U.S. Marine to on trial for his life.

Moore is nonviolent and has saved several lives during his time in the Marine Corps, Raimondo said. He wouldn’t participate in a murder, he said.

Peterson, however, was a convicted felon, a violent alcoholic who previously assaulted and raped the ex-girlfriend, Raimondo said.

Raimondo has previously said Moore rushed to Ridgecrest the day of the homicide because Coykendall — a former Marine with apparent post-traumatic stress disorder — called him and said he urgently needed help, and didn’t provide more details. Moore, believing his friend was experiencing a “crisis incident,” immediately got in his car and went to his aid, Raimondo said.

When Moore arrived, the attorney said, Coykendall started fighting Peterson. Moore tried to intervene, a gun fell from his waistband and a struggle over the weapon ensued, Raimondo said. It went off, he said, and Peterson was hit.

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