Appellate Court overturns South Lake Tahoe murder conviction

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In November 2021, a South Lake Tahoe jury of six men, and six women found Tevarez Richard Lopez guilty of murdering Dennis "Spike" Wright, Jr. at the Beverly Lodge in South Lake Tahoe on January 30, 2016. The guilty verdict led Judge Suzanne Kingsbury to sentence him to Life Without the Possibility of Parole on December 2, 2022. Lopez can now see the end of his time behind bars on the horizon after the 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed the murder conviction and that sentence was vacated.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, the matter was heard in Superior Court in South Lake Tahoe before Judge Kingsbury after the case was remanded for resentencing.

Lopez was sentenced originally to Life Without the Possibility of Parole for the first-degree murder of Wright with special circumstances - the jury had found the murder was committed during a robbery. He also received six years for the robbery of Wright's girlfriend Kyndra Ghiorso (a midterm sentence of three years doubled to six years due to a prior strike conviction in 2003). That sentence was to run consecutively since it was a second victim.

In a second case for Lopez, a sentence of 11 years and four months was imposed to run concurrently for a negotiated deal for charges stemming from marijuana operations. This was the midterm sentence of five years, doubled to ten due to his admission to the prior strike conviction, plus the 1/3 midterm of two ears (eight months).

Lopez has been in jail or prison since his arrest in 2016.

During the case presentation in the appellate court, Lopez's defense contended the evidence in his case was insufficient to support the murder conviction and robbery-murder special-circumstance finding; contended the evidence was insufficient to support the Count 2 conviction for robbery of Wright; claimed the trial court conducted an inadequate investigation into potential juror bias; and argued the trial court erred in failing to give accomplice instructions regarding three prosecution witnesses, Tug Keller, Ghiorso, and Tristan Batten.

Lopez was not present for either murder or the robbery, but the jury found his actions orchestrated the course of events.

Kingsbury, the family, and friends of the victim all shared how they were disappointed in the ruling. They were all there for all the years of court proceedings for all of the defendants who participated in the robbery and murder stemming from the sale of 100 pounds of marijuana in January 2016.

"I know how devastating this is," Kingsbury told the family and friends in court to hear the resentencing.

Lopez was resentenced to 11 years 4 months for the count listed above, six years, and four years on others. He has time credits available for time served, but he will still be facing several more years in jail. At this time, Lopez in is the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Calif.

While the ultimate remaining sentence is up to the California Department of Corrections, Kingsbury and the District Attorney's office worked out the sentence based on the appellate court's decision.

In a previous appellate court decision, another one of the men found responsible for Wright's killing, Dion Vaccaro, was denied his appeal. He was found to be the person who shot and killed Wright and was sentenced to Life in Prison With Parole. His legal counsel argued in the appellate court that Vaccaro had ineffective counsel for his not challenging the credibility of a witness who pleaded the 5th; said the court was wrong in denying his motion for a new trial; argued a new trial should have been granted based on the combined effect of trial counsel’s errors and illness; and argued for resentencing because the trial court was unaware of its discretion to impose a concurrent term on the dissuading a witness count.

The appellate court disagreed and denied his requests in April 2024.

Vaccaro is in the Calipatria State Prison in Calipatria, Calif.