A sentencing hearing that began Friday morning unfolded into the evening with the exact fate still unsure for Charles ” Chase ” Merritt- the Inland Empire man imprisoned of murdering a Fallbrook household of four.

The hearing will pick up at 8: 30 a.m. Tuesday; Monday is a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Before Friday’s proceedings dissolved, San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith didn’t guideline on Merritt’s sentence, but he did determine that there would not be a new trial.

Charles “Chase” Merritt, who has been convicted of killing the 4-member McStay family of Fallbrook and burying their are still in the San Bernardino County desert back in 2010, sits in San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Merritt, who was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Michael Smith to either life in prison or demise on Friday, has been delayed until Tuesday due to defense flows taking up most of the day.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

Charles “Chase” Merritt, who has been convicted of killing the 4-member McStay family of Fallbrook and interring their are still in the San Bernardino County desert back in 2010, sits with his attorney Rajan Maline in San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Merritt, who was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Michael Smith to either life in prison or demise on Friday, has been delayed until Tuesday due to defense flows taking up most of the day.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

SoundThe hall will resume inseconds

Prosecutors listen to defense rationales during a sentencing hearing for Charles “Chase” Merritt in San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Merritt, who was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Michael Smith to either life in prison or extinction on Friday, has been delayed until Tuesday due to defense gestures taking up most of the day.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

Charles “Chase” Merritt, who has been convicted of killing the McStay family and burying their are still in the San Bernardino County desert, carries newspapers to the reviewers enclosures in San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, Jan. 17, 2020.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

Charles ” Chase ” Merritt steps to the judge’s assemblies for a hearing on his request to fire his attorney, Rajan Maline, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Judge Michael A. Smith revoked any such requests.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

Charles “Chase” Merritt’s ex-girlfriend Cathy Jarvis and Merritt’s sisters Juanita Merritt and Sheryl Knefelkamp speak with the media outside of San Bernardino Superior Court Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Charles Merritt was imprisoned of carnage for the 4-member McStay family of Fallbrook and hiding their remains in the San Bernardino County desert back in 2010.( Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/ SCNG)

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Merritt’s lawyer had given a lengthy, last-ditch argument that his client deserved one.

But Smith decided that there was sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable disbelieve to subsistence Merritt’s conviction.

In June, jurors perceived Merritt guilty in the February 2010 deaths among the McStays, two parents and two young children. Their figures search for and roughly 4 years later in two shallow mausoleums near Victorville.

That same month, jurors recommended extinction for Merritt. The adjudicator can follow that, or hand out a life sentence.

Friday began with lawyer Rajan Maline filing a 91 -page brief about cellphone towers. The Merritt lawyer contended that his client’s location near shallow life-and-deaths within daytimes of the murders was based, inaccurately, on the pillar pings.

“The case is much different if there is no evidence that Chase( was near the grave locates ), ” Maline said.

“Not one thing they debated was correct ,” Maline said.” Certain critical sign was misrepresented by the prosecution or( attorneys) outright lied, ” Maline told the judge.

Referencing the cellphone pings and other attest, he said: “There’s no sign relation Mr. Merritt to these carnages. None.”

After one undermine, Maline said that Merritt now wanted to fire him- eliciting chokes in the courtroom.

But in the end, the reviewer so no, and Maline was back to arguing for a new trial.

Merritt, 62, is accused of bludgeoning the McStays in their Fallbrook home, although no evidence of a struggle was ever learnt. The genealogy has only migrated from Orange County, where it had deep connections.

Joseph McStay was 40, while his wife, Summer, was 43. Their youths were Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr ., 3.

Authorities had once figured that the McStays voluntarily left their home about the time they disappeared, likely to live in Mexico after their SUV was received near the Tijuana border crossing and surveillance video testified a similar-looking family walking out of the U.S.

But on Nov. 13, 2013, motorcycle riders found evidence that led to the family’s remains- along with a three-pound sledgehammer- in two shallow desert graves.

Prosecutors was indicated that Merritt’s cellphone was turned off during critical hours, and pings from it on Feb. 6, 2010, two days after the murder at the McStay home, employed him in the area where the tombs would be found years later.

Further, counsels had argued, a high-tech analysis of a video from a surveillance camera proves that Merritt’s truck left the McStay home the evening of the assassination, and that Merritt’s activity with McStay’s QuickBooks establishes he was looting it.

Deep into the afternoon, Judge Smith rebuffed one contention by the defense after another, including that Merritt had inefficient defense co-counsel.

The judge pointed out that Merritt’s DNA had been found on steering wheel and gear switching of the McStays’ abandoned SUV near the Mexico border. Likewise, sleuths noticed … … that in an interview before the McStays had been found dead, Merritt referred to them in the past tense.

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