SAN ANTONIO – A woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for her role in a deadly 2024 robbery.
The victim’s family says they’re not happy with the sentence. They’re calling it an injustice.
A judge handed 20-year-old Julie Lopez a 15-year sentence for her part in a robbery connected to the death of 20-year-old Isaiah Guevara.
She made her apologies to the family during sentencing, but they’re not satisfied with the outcome.
“I pray that during the years of your sentence that you are confronted every day with the reality of what you did to Isaiah,” one family member said during victim impact statements.
It’s justice, but not the kind Isaiah Guevara’s family hoped for.
“15 years is nothing. Not for me,” said Guevara’s aunt Christina Rodriguez. She and her sister, Isaiah’s mother, said Lopez’s sentence does not cover the cost of what they lost.
“She took that away with just one decision and now he’s gone and she gets to see her family,” Rodriguez said,” “[A] phone call, go travel to see her — we can’t do that with my nephew. He’s in an urn now.”
Lopez accepted a plea deal for aggravated robbery charges in connection to Guevara’s death.
Her original arrest affidavit mentions a plan to rob the 20-year-old at his northwest side apartment. The affidavit mentions two other men were with her that night, but Lopez refused to identify them. She claims she didn’t know he would be shot.
“I’m sorry that I put him in a situation that I can’t take back,” Lopez said during the sentencing hearing. “I just want to make it right by owning up to my part in it.”
Lopez was originally arrested and charged with Guevara’s murder, along with then 24-year-old Felix Garcia.
In June, the murder charges were dropped against both of them. Court records cite a lack of evidence. Garcia has since been released.
“I feel like my son isn’t getting treated like a person,” said Isaiah’s mother, Denise Villareal. “He’s getting treated like a case… I don’t even know how to feel any more about the law system.”
Guevara’s mother said their family won’t feel they’ve received justice until the person who pulled the trigger is behind bars.
Now they’re hoping to see charges brought against whoever is responsible.