Carioscia's Mother Testifies in Jail Clothes During Lloyd Homicide Trial

Christopher Carioscia was characterized as a young man “digging himself into a hole that he couldn’t get out of” by a witness for the prosecution in the first-degree murder trial of Stanley Virgil Lloyd Jr. on Tuesday.

Seventeen-year-old Carioscia—an El Capitan High School student—was using and selling heroin and Xanax, the court heard Tuesday. He was selling Xanax to Lloyd, who lived on the Barona Indian Reservation. The court also heard from a witness that someone had “fronted heroin” to Carioscia, who needed money.

Carioscia’s bullet-laden and partially decomposed body was found in a remote area on the reservation in December 2010. Lloyd was arrested in March and charged in the death. He was 19 at the time.

The prosecution told jurors in that Lloyd told someone he was growing tired of buying Xanax from Carioscia and that he was thinking of taking Carioscia’s drugs and killing him.

Family and friends of Carioscia and Lloyd gathered quietly in the El Cajon courthouse Tuesday. It was a different scene than at the preliminary hearing in late May, when Carioscia’s friends wore “R.I.P. Chris” shirts and were told not to wear them to court again. During that hearing, the tension between supporters of both sides in the hallways rose so high that bailiffs had to be called twice.

Judge John M. Thompson reminded attorneys Tuesday to tell each side not to show any support or express any emotion in the court. Journalists were not allowed to use cameras.

The backdrop for this court case, as painted by testimony, is a complex scenario including reports of gun stealing, parents involved in illegal drug activities, a residential burglary, the brandishing of a gun at a bonfire party on the reservation, a 16-year-old gambling at Barona Casino, a burned-out car and a monthlong search by the Sheriff’s Department for Carioscia’s body.

The body was found in a creekbed in the Skunk Creek area, a couple of miles down a rugged dirt road off Wildcat Canyon Road, southwest of Barona Speedway.

On Tuesday, defense attorney Roland Haddad summed up Carioscia’s death in one word: “tragic.” But Haddad denied his client was involved.

Prosecutor David Williams III said, “Lloyd left Chris’ body to rot in an area so remote that it took the Sheriff’s Department a month to find it.”

Lloyd is accused of brandishing a handgun similar to the .357 pistol thought to be the murder weapon in front of partiers on the reservation two nights after Carioscia went missing, bragging about killing someone, disposing of the body and dumping the car.

Carioscia’s burned-out car was found in the “old dump” area of Lakeside, about a mile from Lloyd’s home, according to testimony from Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Angela Tsuida.

Phone call records indicate that the last phone calls Carioscia made from his cell phone were to Lloyd between midnight Oct. 26 and 1 a.m. Oct. 27.

But the defense argued that there’s no way of knowing whether Lloyd ever received the calls or if they went to voicemail. Also, there’s no reported evidence to prove that Lloyd was ever in Carioscia’s company that night, Haddad said.

Two witnesses told the court they had seen Carioscia on the Barona Casino gambling floor that night. They both said he was under the influence of something and was “out of it”—slurring his words and staggering. One testified that Carioscia said he was going to see “Scooter” that night—Lloyd’s nickname.

Carioscia had been going to the casino since he was 16, according to the prosecution, even though he wasn’t supposed to be able to gamble there. The court heard how he had a gambling addiction as well as a drug addiction.

In opening statements Tuesday morning, jurors also heard how both of Carioscia’s parents were involved in an East County prescription drug ring, in which they involved their son.

Prosecutor Williams described Carioscia’s life as “pretty bad,” and said his mother, Monika Pyskata, with whom he lived, had a “very bad drug problem.”

Pyskata testified Tuesday in chains and jail clothes. She was booked into Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee last month on charges related to possession with intent to sell controlled substances. This is her second such offense. She was convicted in April 2011 for possession to sell controlled substances, according to Haddad’s comments in court. She has a court appearance on the recent charges Thursday.

Pyskata was tearful and held back a sob as she identified her son’s photo displayed on a large screen in the court, at the request of the prosecution. An almost palpable hush followed in the court.

Carioscia's mother told the court how her son "helped around the house ... to pay for things." She said that on Oct. 26, she called her son every 10 minutes from about midnight onward because she was worried.

"He always used to come home by 1 a.m.," she said.

She said she drove up to Barona with a girlfriend on Oct. 27 after law enforcement notified her about her son's burned car on the reservation, which was registered in her name.

On Wednesday, the court heard testimony about the autopsy.

Pyskata told the court tearfully that the examination had been performed on Carioscia's 18th birthday.

Also Wednesday, a woman who had been at the late October bonfire near the Barona Cultural Center testified about Lloyd showing people a gun that night.

The case is being presented in Dept. 16 on the fourth floor of the El Cajon courthouse. The trial will be dark Wednesday through Friday of Thanksgiving week and will pick up again, if necessary, on the following Monday.