Father-in-law speaks out after foster child murder mistrial

The jury could not reach a verdict in the trial of Antonio Lopez, the foster parent accused of killing an 11-month old baby.

After more than two days of deliberations, the jury was deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial.

Lopez’s father-in-law, Juan Holguin, spoke exclusively with ABC-7. A longtime foster parent himself, he had a lot to say about Thursday’s mistrial.

Holguin believes his son-in-law is innocent and had nothing to do with the death of little Jayla Beckley.

“They got into it because they saw my wife and I doing foster care,” Holguin said of his daughter, Alice Pearl Lopez, and son-in-law. “We’ve been doing foster care for about 28 years for more than a hundred children. My son-in-law wanted to do the same as me.”

But that took a tragic turn when Jayla was murdered back in 2012, leaving Lopez, now 30, on trial for capital murder and facing a mandatory life in prison sentence.

“My daughter is innocent, my son in law is innocent,” Holguin said. “My son in law was in his little office. My daughter were in the kitchen baking a cake.”

Holguin echoed Lopez’s defense team, which claimed Lopez was bullied into a confession by police.

“The hammering they did to my son in law,” Holguin said. “You can’t tell a man like Antonio Lopez to confess or we’re going to put your (wife) in jail. You can’t do that to a man. They threatened him saying that, you know, if it wasn’t him, it was her, you know.”

Asked if he was relieved that the trial was declared a mistrial, leaving Lopez facing a likely retrial at some point, Holguin got emotional.

“I’m not relieved,” he said through tears. “I wanted my son-in-law back. I wanted him back. I wanted him home today.”

Holguin said being behind bars has changed Lopez.

“They’re asking my son, ‘Why didn’t you testify?’ Holguin said. “He can’t testify. He’s been in jail four years! Look at his eyes! My son-in-law isn’t there anymore.”