The Esparto fireworks explosion case is about to get messier before it gets clearer. On Monday, a Yolo County judge heard arguments over whether defense attorneys and others involved in the July 2025 blast should be silenced—at least publicly—while the case inches toward trial. Judge Daniel Maguire didn’t rule on the gag order request that day, but the tension in the courtroom revealed something important: everyone agrees this case shouldn’t be tried in the press, but nobody can agree on how to make that happen.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s office wants a pretrial publicity protective order that would restrict statements from attorneys, law enforcement, witnesses, and court staff. Their reasoning? Two recent articles—one in The San Francisco Standard and another from The Sacramento Bee—where defense attorneys Rob Gorman and Douglas Horngrad publicly discussed how a May 2026 California Supreme Court ruling in People v. Richard Curtis Morris Jr. could undermine the murder charges against their clients. Horngrad, representing Kenneth Chee of Devastating Pyrotechnics, and Gorman, defending Jack Lee, used the Morris decision to signal that the felony murder charges might not hold up. The DA called these statements“extrajudicial public statements”that risk prejudicing the case by mischaracterizing the law.
But here’s where it gets interesting: defense attorneys aren’t buying it. David Fischer, representing former sheriff’s lieutenant Samuel Machado, fired back that the DA’s office created the problem in the first place with an April news conference he said was loaded with misinformation. Fischer argued that no defense attorney had held a press conference in response, and now the DA wants to gag the very people who need to correct the record. He also noted the request was premature—no trial date has even been set yet. Representatives from Cal Fire and Cal/OSHA opposed the order too, saying it would interfere with their regulatory and public safety responsibilities.
Judge Maguire signaled he needs more time to untangle a potential split in California case law over how high the bar must be to issue such an order. He expects to issue a written decision in about two weeks. Meanwhile, the case is moving forward on multiple fronts. By mid-June, defendants must receive copies of data from seized electronic devices. A July 1 hearing will address how prosecutors can review that material while protecting attorney-client privilege. And several defendants have summer court dates lined up: Samuel Machado returns Wednesday for a bail hearing, his wife Tammy Machado on Thursday, Douglas Tollefsen and Gary Chan Jr. on Friday, and Kenneth Chee, Jack Lee, and Craig Cutright of Blackstar Fireworks are scheduled for a status conference July 30, where their attorneys indicated they expect to enter not guilty pleas.
This is a case where the collision between transparency and fair trial rights is playing out in real time. The judge’s decision on the gag order could reshape how much the public hears about what happened in that Esparto facility and who bears responsibility for the deaths that resulted.
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Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
