Given ‘Degree of Depravity,’ Judge Sentences Murder Defendant to 50 Years

By Laura Berol - October 25, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Domestic Violence | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe sentenced Marvin Lopez to 50 years in prison on Oct. 25 for fatally shooting his girlfriend nearly ten years ago

Lopez, 43, was found guilty by a jury on Nov. 14, 2023, of premeditated first-degree murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his involvement in the death of 27-year-old Evelyn Arroyo on Dec. 24, 2014, on the 3900 block of 14th Street, NW. 

Arroyo’s uncle submitted a victim impact statement that the prosecutor read before the court.

“On that day, this little girl lost her loving and caring mother,” the uncle said about Arroyo’s daughter, who was three-years-old on the day of the shooting. 

He said Arroyo had left Lopez and was trying to stay away from him when he killed her.

The aunt of Arroyo’s daughter, who has been the daughter’s guardian since the murder, gave a victim impact statement in Spanish. According to the court translator, she said, “Only I know how much this little girl has suffered for her mother. She writes to her every day through texts.” 

“Mr. Lopez fled the country in order to get away with the murder he had just committed, and he almost succeeded,” the prosecutor told the court. She said Lopez’s absence postponed the trial and weakened the prosecution’s case because witnesses became harder to find.

According to the prosecutor, Arroyo’s daughter’s father was involved in a traffic accident that injured him so seriously he couldn’t appear in court to testify at the trial. Before the accident, he gave testimony that placed Lopez in the area of the shooting close to the time it occurred.

The prosecutor played video footage of a police interview that took place immediately after the shooting with an eyewitness who died before the trial started. The eyewitness told police he was on the sidewalk outside the restaurant where Arroyo worked, only 20 feet away from her and Lopez at the time of the shooting. 

“There were gestures like they were arguing, and then he took out a gun and shot her,” the eyewitness said. “He walked past like nothing happened.”

John Machado, Lopez’s attorney, objected this information wasn’t relevant because the jury had already convicted Lopez.

Judge O’Keefe overruled the objection, saying, “Delay helps the defense, and this was significant delay.” He said the information supported the prosecution’s argument that Lopez should receive more than the minimum sentence. 

The prosecutor said members of the community where Lopez and Arroyo lived were skeptical the police would put effort into investigating Arroyo’s death. 

“Who’s going to care about a young, undocumented single mother of one who waits tables?” the prosecutor said. “This is an opportunity for the court to show that she mattered.”

The prosecutor said Lopez’s jail calls to his current girlfriend in El Salvador revealed his continuing tendencies to partner violence and control. 

“As far as the [prosecution] can tell, Mr. Lopez is still the same person he was in 2014,” said the prosecutor. “[Arroyo] was trapped in a cycle of violence, and she tried to get out, and this is what happened to her.”

Machado said, “What is at issue–and this was told to Mr. Lopez, it was told to the family–is that in El Salvador, where he was, the maximum he could be sentenced to was 20 or 30 years.” 

Machado said the extradition treaty limits Lopez’s sentence in the US to what he could receive in El Salvador. If Lopez is given more than 30 years, Machado said he will file for reconsideration of an illegal sentence.

“He didn’t have much of a childhood,” Machado told the court about Lopez. He said Lopez’s mother left him with his grandparents in El Salvador, where he had to leave school and go to work after eighth grade, because she was in the US earning money to bring her children to join her.

“He did return to El Salvador, and he has a child there of eight years of age and a wife. They are already missing him,” Machado said about Lopez. “As to his going, there was nothing improper.”

“It took a long time for the [prosecutor] to indict the case,” Machado said. “For the [prosecution] to now say about the delay that it should all be held against [Lopez] is baseless.” 

Machado said he has never seen evidence that Lopez is controlling or violent, as the prosecutor alleges.

“On the occasions that I’ve spoken to [Lopez’s mother], she only speaks lovingly,” Machado said. “There was a lot of blood and sweat and effort that went into bringing him here legally, and now, to speak honestly, he will spend a lot of his life in prison.”

Machado asked Judge O’Keefe to give Lopez the minimum sentence of 30 years.

Lopez chose not to address the court.

“There was the Facebook post by Mr. Lopez saying, ‘I am going to kill you. If you leave me, I will kill you.’ And he said that multiple times,” Judge O’Keefe said in summing up the case. “Then, on the night of the murder, he disappeared.” 

“I don’t know about extradition treaties between El Salvador and the US. No one has filed anything. And so I’m going to sentence according to our sentencing guidelines,” said Judge O’Keefe. “The degree of depravity is what makes this not at the low end of the guidelines.” 

Judge O’Keefe said he felt bad for the harm done to Arroyo and her family, and to Lopez’s own family as well. 

“His children are also suffering, and that is his doing,” Judge O’Keefe said.

Judge O’Keefe ordered Lopez to pay $200 to the Victims of Violent Crime Fund, to complete the general education Ddploma (GED) in prison, and to participate in a domestic violence program. Assuming Lopez finishes his 50 year incarceration, he must complete five years of supervised release and register as a gun offender.

Judge O’Keefe gave Lopez credit for time served in the US but not in any other countries where he was held before being extradited. 

Machado objected that the law required Lopez to be given credit for time served on account of US charges. Judge O’Keefe instructed Machado to research the relevant law and inform the court of what he finds.

No further hearings are scheduled in this case.