EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A man was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in state prison by an El Paso jury in a 2023 bludgeoning and shooting case, the El Paso District Attorney’s Office said.
Kyle Austin Lopez, age 37 at the time of the crime, was convicted of manslaughter on Monday, April 7 in the 384th District Court.
Lopez killed Anthony Alfredo Chavez, 39, during a violent fight on June 28, 2023, the DA’s Office said.
A home surveillance camera captured the fight on video, which occurred in the driveway of a home on the 2000 block of Diciembre Drive in East El Paso.
Jurors were able to see the video, which depicted Lopez assaulting Chavez with a handgun before the gun went off, striking Chavez in the head, the DA’s Office said.
Chavez was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The jury deliberated for fewer than three hours before issuing a guilty verdict. The sentencing phase of the trial occurred on Tuesday, April 8.
Jurors were able to consider Lopez’s nearly two-decade history of multiple prior felony convictions in California in their deliberations, the DA’s Office said.
“The conviction and sentence show the jury understood that Kyle Lopez was a continual threat to society,” District Attorney James Montoya said. “I want to thank the jurors for taking their civic duty seriously when they assessed all the evidence, including the defendant’s criminal past.”
Assistant District Attorneys William Dixon, Ingrid Rojas-Kinne, and Travis Fortune represented the state of Texas in the prosecution of this case.
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