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SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors don't know why Komasquin Lopez put a gun to his wife's head as they were driving and having a heated argument, then pulled the trigger and killed her.
But Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Langdon Fisher told jurors shortly before they began deliberating the case that the reason doesn't matter.
"Holding a loaded, ready-to-fire large handgun firmly against someone's head while driving a large pickup is depraved indifference to human life," Fisher said.
The jury ultimately agreed and returned a guilty verdict late Friday night. Lopez will be sentenced on Nov. 23.
Earlier Friday, Lopez's defense lawyer, Andrea Garland, said her client never pulled the trigger. Rather, it was Shannon Lopez who took her own life.
"Shannon Lopez shot herself. And that's terrible. And that's tragic because she was a very well-loved woman. But that's what happened," she said. "Mr. Lopez didn't shoot his wife while making a left-hand turn. Nobody does that."
The murder case against Lopez went to the six-man, two-woman jury about 4:45 p.m. Friday. Hours later, they ultimately decided that Komasquin Lopez, 45, and not Shannon Lopez, 32, pulled the trigger that caused the fatal gunshot wound to Shannon Lopez's head.
On Dec. 27, 2013, the two were both high on meth and having a heated argument. Shannon Lopez had allegedly threatened to leave her husband. After he picked up his wife from work and was driving home, the argument grew intense. As he made a left turn near 7200 S. State, there was a gunshot.
The jury was tasked with deciding whether to convict Lopez of murder, manslaughter or negligent homicide, or to acquit him.
Garland argued that at most, her client was negligent for not securing his guns and preventing his wife from having access to them.
But in his closing arguments on Friday, Fisher told jurors that negligent homicide "is not in the ballpark of the conduct we're talking about."
He said angry texts back and forth between the couple that day turned into an "anger-filled ride" in Lopez's head that afternoon.
The defendant became angry — so mad, mad, mad at Shannon that he pulled out that Glock from its spot … and he put it against her head to threaten her, just as he did with his ex-wife before.
–Deputy district attorney Langdon Fisher
"The defendant became angry — so mad, mad, mad at Shannon that he pulled out that Glock from its spot … and he put it against her head to threaten her, just as he did with his ex-wife before."
Lopez's attorneys denied that Komasquin previously pointed a gun at his ex-wife.
Fisher said Shannon Lopez was not suicidal and would not spontaneously decide to throw away her life and abandon her children, one of whom has special-needs. Furthermore, a person committing suicide would not stick a gun directly in their ear, he argued.
"This is not someone who is poised to take a loaded firearm, thrust it against her head, forget about her children at home, and blow her head off," Fisher argued. "Or stick it against her ear as some type of gesture."
Both sides agreed that whoever pulled the trigger may not have intended to take such action, but may have only intended to intimidate or scare the other person.
"There's a good chance she did not intend to kill herself," Garland said, while also noting to the jury during her closing arguments, "No one has told you this was not a suicide."
Komasquin Lopez took the witness stand himself on Friday and said he did not believe his wife intended to shoot herself.
"It was an accident," he testified.
The woman had taken a large amount of methamphetamine that day, Garland said, making her actions unpredictable.
"Mrs. Lopez was on an astonishing amount of methamphetamine," she said. "Nobody knows what she would do with that amount."
Fisher noted that Komasquin Lopez had also used meth and his actions could also be unpredictable. But regardless, "This is not a case about drug possession. This is a murder case," he said.
Furthermore, he said, Komasquin Lopez's statements about what happened have been "inconsistently consistent."
"He knew the truth," Fisher said.
When Lopez "freaked out," Fisher told jurors, it was because "he knew what he had just done."
"His stories don't make any sense," he said. "Just because he panicked that does not mean it wasn't him."
Contributing: Ben Lockhart
