Family Of Murder Victim Unhappy With Verdict
EL PASO – It has been less than two years since Gabriel Lopez, Jr. was killed in front of his Northeast El Paso home. The first man arrested in the case is a free man; he was found not guilty by a jury earlier this year. This has Lopez’s family outraged.
The Lopez family contacted ABC-7 because they are angry Eric Michael Sanchez – the main suspect – is a free man. But they’re most angry at the fact his two alleged accomplices could also soon be free.
“I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s fair for those guys to be free,” said Lopez Jr.’s sister, Gloria Macias.
Lopez Jr. was stabbed and beaten to death in 2007. Macias claims her brother came out to defend her two sons, one of whom is Gabriel Lopez III. “My brother was laying there in my nephew’s legs. At the time he was snorking (sic) and he tried to hug my nephew but he couldn’t,” she said.
Police arrested three men: Eric Michael Sanchez, Steven Baquera and Johnny Ortiz.
Macias claims Sanchez started the fight because her nephew, Gabriel III, had a relationship with Sanchez’s ex-wife. She says since a jury found Sanchez not guilty, the district attorney’s office is hesitant to take Baquera to trial. He’s currently out on bond. “We were very disappointed in the system,” Macias said.
Baquera is scheduled to plead guilty in July to a sentence Macias claims doesn’t include any jail time. Macias says she begged the DA’s office for a trial, but prosecutors don’t think a jury will come back guilty, especially if 12 men and women didn’t before.
She said her family even e-mailed Jaime Esparza, but he never replied. “They didn’t ask us what we think. I told the district attorney ‘I need to go to trial, We need to go to trial.’ But obviously the DAs are thinking for the jurors,” she told ABC-7.
Macias claims the knife used to stab her brother was never found, but that there was plenty of other evidence for Sanchez’s conviction. Still, at the end of the day, a trial isn’t all the Lopezes want; Macias wants a trial that leads to a guilty verdict.
District Attorney Jaime Esparza is out of town, but did give us a statement. He said: “I understand the family’s concerns, but I am also aware this case was tried before a jury once before. That defendant was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of aggravated assault. I have further reviewed the case and my office is going forward with a plea of guilty on the second defendant scheduled for July 2nd.”
Ortiz is not scheduled to plea guilty nor is a trial date set. Baquera and Ortiz are also charged with aggravated assault and murder.
