3rd man guilty in Fort Smith gang killing; he hears sentence today
FORT SMITH — A Sebastian County Circuit Court judge said he will sentence a 20-year-old gang member today after a jury convicted the man Wednesday of second-degree murder in the shooting of a rival gang member.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated for about 90 minutes Wednesday before recommending that Ryan Oxford, a member of the Slangaz 96 gang, be sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Jan. 14 death of 18-year-old Justin Lopez. Oxford initially was charged with first-degree murder.
The jury also convicted Oxford of seven counts of committing a terroristic act, which was firing into an occupied structure with the intent to harm someone or damage property. One of the terroristic acts resulted in Lopez’s death, for which the jury recommended Oxford receive a 20-year sentence. The jury recommended Oxford receive five-year sentences for each of the other six terroristic-act charges.
Jurors recommended the sentences run concurrently, or served all at once.
The terroristic-act charges accused Oxford of being an accomplice to shooting into a camper trailer in the backyard at 2315 N. Ninth St. that was occupied by Lopez, a member of the rival Clout Boys gang, and fellow gang member Trey Miller.
Police say the trailer was pierced by 22 bullets, one of which struck Lopez in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
Circuit Judge Michael Fitzhugh dismissed the jury and told the attorneys he wanted to “mull over” the case before passing sentence. He scheduled sentencing for 10 a.m. today.
If Fitzhugh follows the jury’s recommendations, Oxford could be eligible for parole in five years.
Jurors started out the day Wednesday completing the deliberations of Oxford’s guilt on which they spent about 3½ hours Tuesday.
Jurors heard evidence during the two days of testimony that Oxford purchased the AR-15style and AK-47-style rifles that were used in the shooting and that he had sold the AR-15-style rifle to co-defendant Bryan Porras, a convicted felon.
He also admitted in a video
interview played for the jury that when fellow gang members Porras, Alberto Chavez and Jorge Chirinos got out of Porras’ car to shoot at the trailer, he jumped into the driver’s seat and drove them away after the shooting.
The gang members, led by Porras, were looking for Lopez for a slight they said he’d made against the Slangaz 96 gang. They learned where Lopez was by interrogating guests at a wedding, then Porras drove the four to the alley behind 2315 N. Ninth St.
According to testimony, Porras, 20, and Chavez, 19, fired the two rifles into the trailer. A state firearms and tool mark examiner testified that a fragment of the bullet removed from Lopez’s head had been fired by the AR-15-style rifle that Chirinos testified Chavez had fired.
A jury convicted Porras on Nov. 15 of first-degree murder
and seven counts of committing a terroristic act. He was sentenced to 63 years in prison on the murder charge, received lesser sentences for the terroristic-act convictions and was sentenced to an additional 34 years for violating suspended sentences he had received last year for five felony convictions.
Chavez was convicted Nov. 29 of second-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act. He was sentenced to 110 years in prison but could be eligible for parole in 25 years.
Chirinos, 17, also was charged with first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act. He is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 8, but he testified for the state against his three co-defendants and said in court that he hoped to receive leniency for his truthful testimony.