{"id":25129,"date":"2024-10-29T12:55:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T18:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trinadie-lopez-sentencing-delayed-after-plea-mix-up\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:10:06","slug":"trinadie-lopez-sentencing-delayed-after-plea-mix-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trinadie-lopez-sentencing-delayed-after-plea-mix-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinadie Lopez sentencing delayed after plea mix-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Trinadie
Trinadie Lopez will be held in the Montezuma County Jail until his sentencing hearing in October.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Saying that a plea agreement was incomplete, Chief Judge Todd Plewe on Friday ordered a new sentencing hearing for the man suspected of injuring a bystander in a street shooting last year in Cortez.<\/p>\n

A new hearing for Trinadie Xavier Lopez, 20, was set for November in the 22nd Judicial District Court.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 15, 2023, shots were fired near Empire Street, and a bystander was shot in the leg. Other suspects were charged, but Lopez was the only remaining suspect in custody after turning himself into police in October 2023. The DA\u2019s Office has said that based on its investigation, Lopez most likely pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n

At the start of the hearing, Plewe asked to view Lopez\u2019s account of the shooting. The plea agreement stated that Lopez would \u201cprovide a full and accurate accounting of the events that took place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense lawyer Kent Pace of Durango said they were not asked to do the report, and District Attorney Christian Hatfield said that he had not \u201creached out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Pace, I got to be honest, I really struggled with this plea agreement anyway, because I felt that it was way too lenient, but then to read the presentence investigation report where there\u2019s really zero accountability, no remorse, no acknowledgment of the crime committed, other than the fact that he got in a car with some friends,\u201d Plewe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to force anyone to do anything that they don\u2019t want to do, but he certainly agreed to do that right in the plea agreement,\u201d Plewe added. \u201cHe signed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, Mr. Pace, Mr. Hatfield, I\u2019m inclined to reject the agreement based on upon just a lack of accountability, remorse or acknowledgment,\u201d Plewe said.<\/p>\n

He asked Hatfield why the court would accept the plea without Lopez\u2019s accountability.<\/p>\n

Hatfield said that if the case went to trial, \u201cpotential proof problems\u201d that led to the plea deal would remain, including \u201can ambiguous video, changing witness testimony, some other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took quite a lot of investigation and interviews with other originally charged defendants, and we\u2019re confident that we did get the right defendant, but we are where we are,\u201d Hatfield said.<\/p>\n

Pace said Lopez had prepared a statement that he believed showed accountability for the events that took place on Sept. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it provides the court with what the court is looking for in terms of recognizing conduct and recognizing remorse for that conducts. I don\u2019t think that this case is cut and dry,\u201d Pace said, adding that the case was \u201crelated to gang activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were threats made to Mr. Lopez\u2019s family that morning. Does that justify Mr. Lopez grabbing an assault rifle from his home and bringing it into a car, knowing that he and his friends were going to be using the assault rifle that day? Not, it does not justify that. This is not a self-defense theory of a case, that someone, after being threatened at their home, can go out looking to hunt down the people who threaten you,\u201d Pace said.<\/p>\n

Pace said Lopez has realized the error of his actions and how that brought more danger to the community.<\/p>\n

However, Pace said he believed Delsin Freeman pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on my review of discovery, who pulled the trigger, Delsin Freeman pulled the trigger of that gun,\u201d Pace said, adding that Freeman and another former suspect were \u201cgang members with far, far more significant and dangerous criminal histories\u201d than Lopez.<\/p>\n

The Lopez family also fears retaliation, Pace said.<\/p>\n

Pace said that Lopez, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, was \u201ceasily impressionable\u201d and that other than taking the gun to the shooting scene, had a law-abiding life. He has worked on a GED by continuing his education through GOAL Academy while in jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is someone who has demonstrated, not just through his words, but actually through his actions, that what happened on this day is not a defining moment of his life,\u201d Pace said.<\/p>\n

When Pace finished, Plewe asked again about the missing statement of accountability, adding that when he took Lopez\u2019s plea it was \u201cabsolutely\u201d his expectation that the statement would be provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m not blaming necessarily just your client. I think it\u2019s on both of you to have that happen, right,\u201d Plewe said to Hatfield and Pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation was, I come out here today, I would ask Mr. Hatfield, \u2018Has that happened?\u2019 He would say to me, \u2018It did, Your Honor, it\u2019s protected. We\u2019re satisfied.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatfield agreed with Plewe that the court hearing should be continued to give Lopez a chance to make his statement. He added that based on the evidence, he didn\u2019t believe Freeman was the shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know everyone wants resolution. At this point, I\u2019m inclined to reject the plea agreement,\u201d Plewe said, because Lopez has not complied with Rule 11 and provided a \u201cfull and accurate accounting of the events that took place on Sept. 15, 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m disappointed that he wasn\u2019t approached,\u201d Plewe said. \u201cI understand that, Mr. Pace, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s your responsibility to be the only one that makes that happen, but that\u2019s what he agreed to, and that is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plewe then addressed Lopez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important part of it, Mr. Lopez, that when you sign something that you do everything you say you\u2019re going to do when you sign something. So, when I look at this, I think you know which way I\u2019m leaning \u2026 certainly without that full and accurate accounting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plewe said he would give Lopez time to give his accounting of events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realize that means a lot for the victims and for the family, and I also acknowledge that this is a gang-related issue, and these issues are complex, but my concerns for community safety and accountability give me pause quite a bit in this case \u2026 And frankly, what I\u2019d be looking for is for the DA to tell me that they \u2026 feel satisfied that he has made a full allocution, and that would help me to understand a little bit more why this is an appropriate plea agreement,\u201d Plewe said.<\/p>\n

The new hearing is Nov. 7 at 9:30 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

expresses disappointment when a key part of the plea agreement was not acquired<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,168,28,60,29,390,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-shooting","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78810,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25129\/revisions\/78810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25129"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}