Victim’s kin decry sentence

Family members of an Omaha man shot and killed last year outside a south Omaha bar ran out of court Tuesday, hysterical after the judge sentenced the man responsible.

“Justice was not served,” yelled one of Michael Lopez’ family members outside the courtroom.

Douglas County District Judge J Russell Derr sentenced Ronnie G. Stuart, 55, to three years in prison for shooting 34-year-old Michael Lopez outside the Last Call Saloon, near 42nd and H Streets, on Nov. 14, 2008.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Stuart could be released in about a year and a half. He faced up to 20 years in prison for manslaughter. He was credited for four days served.

Stuart was originally charged with second-degree murder and faced 20 years to life in prison. He pleaded no contest to manslaughter last month after a key witness changed his account of the early morning shooting.

Derr said Tuesday that Stuart’s sentence was “one of the most difficult” he’s had to craft in the past seven years. Although he considered all of the factors and circumstances, he said, no sentence could change what happened or bring back Lopez.

Derr said Stuart didn’t have much of a criminal history and has owned two successful businesses. Without a witness who saw the confrontation, the judge said, no one knows what provoked the incident or whether it was an act of self-defense.

Stuart told the family in court that he realized he made a terrible mistake.

“I’m sorry the whole thing happened,” he said. “I never should have had the gun. ... I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”

According to prosecutors, Stuart and Lopez exchanged words inside the bar, then got into a confrontation outside after it closed.

The witness told Omaha police that he rushed to intervene when Stuart raised a gun during the argument.

A shot went off. The witness said he grabbed Stuart’s hand holding the gun, and a second shot went off into the air.

The witness told police he turned to find that Lopez had been struck by the first shot and was on the ground.

In most recent depositions with attorneys, prosecutors said, the witness basically changed the order of the shots.

Prosecutors said the witness may have feared that he would be implicated in the shooting if he acknowledged that the fatal shot went off while he was grappling with Stuart over the gun.

However, the witness was not charged.

Lopez was a 1992 graduate of South High School and worked in construction. His ex-wife, Regina Lopez, hugged Michael Lopez’s mother and consoled his six children outside of the courtroom Tuesday.

Before Stuart was sentenced, several family members begged the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

“The kids were Michael’s world, and now he’s gone and we are left alone to figure it out,” Regina Lopez told the judge. “It will never be the same.”

Contact the writer:

444-1336, leia.mendoza@owh.com