State v. Lopez

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Allegrucci, J.:

This is a direct appeal by the defendant, Adrian Angel Lopez, from his jury conviction of one count of premeditated first-degree murder. The trial court imposed a hard 40 sentence.

Carlos Martinez died on June 21, 1998, from injuries resulting from three gunshots to his head. The shots were fired from behind Martinez and to his right. One shot was fired within inches of Martinez’ head, another within a foot, and the third from beyond a foot. The pattern of the shots being fired at varying distances is consistent with the gun staying in…