Fifteen hours passed before Cody Molica picked up the phone to report his father’s death. By the time sheriff’s deputies arrived, the 80-year-old lay face down beneath a blanket, a revolver under his body — and what investigators later said looked like a staged gunfight.
Now, Molica, 39, is on trial in Sonoma County Superior Court, accused of killing his father, Richard Molica, at the family’s Stony Point Road home north of Rohnert Park.
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Deputy District Attorney Adam McBride told jurors the evidence would show the shooting was deliberate and that Molica tried to mislead investigators. Defense attorney Eric Loftman countered that the elder Molica fired first and that his client acted in self-defense during a gunfight between father and son.
Investigators found the victim with two gunshot wounds in what McBride described as a “staged” scene. The revolver beneath Richard Molica’s body and another handgun found in the kitchen appeared to have been positioned to support a story of mutual gunfire, the prosecutor said.
Molica waited until the afternoon of Jan. 27 to dial 911, about 15 hours after the shooting the previous evening, according to prosecutors. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found shell casings scattered across the floor, bullet holes in the walls and dried blood pooled around the body.
Molica was arrested at the scene and has remained in the Sonoma County jail since.
Authorities also arrested Richard Molica’s 72-year-old wife, Beverly Molica, that same day in Vallejo. Investigators suspected her of conspiracy and acting as an accessory, but prosecutors declined to file charges. Her involvement was never publicly detailed.
The killing came less than a week after another violent encounter at the same home. On Jan. 21, sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an argument between father and son that ended with Cody Molica shoving his father hard enough to knock him down, McBride told jurors. Molica was arrested in that case and later released.
“That’s the relationship context you’ll have going into Jan. 27,” McBride told jurors.
The trial opened Monday with testimony from the dispatcher who handled the Jan. 21 domestic violence call, followed by the responding deputy. Jurors also watched the deputy’s body-worn camera footage showing his arrival at the home that night.
