Angels Camp slaying suspects reject deals

By Joel Metzger

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Posted: Friday, October 3, 2008 10:40 AM CDT

Two men accused of murder in the June 5 slaying of Pablo Lopez Sr., 46, and Pablo Lopez Jr., 24, rejected plea deals in court Thursday.

The district attorney offered Juan Torres Flores, 55, a deal in which he would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of both the men killed in the Angels Camp brawl. If he accepted the deal, Flores could have faced up to 22 years in state prison. A murder conviction could lead to life in prison or the death penalty.

When asked by Judge John E. Martin whether he would accept the plea deal, Flores initially indicated that he would accept the offer. However, when asked specifically whether he was going to plead guilty, a tirade of words poured out of the man's mouth.

He hesitantly began by saying softly, "I defended my own life and my children's lives. My children were being beaten. I yelled at them (Pablo Lopez Sr. and Jr.) to stop. When I saw my son on the ground bleeding and my other son being beaten with a stick, I attacked them so they would not kill my family."

The voice of the accused rose and quickened as he continued.

"If small children were not there, we would have fled. I'm saying the truth. There were three children... ."

Flores began to cry, and his voice cracked as he tried to speak.

"They surrounded us, and did not allow us to flee."

At this point, Judge Martin determined that Flores was not going to accept the plea deal, and proceeded to set a pre-trial date of Oct. 24 and a trial date of Jan. 14.

For the complete story, see Friday’s Calaveras Enterprise or our e-Edition.

Comment (1 comment(s))

jake wallace wrote on Oct 3, 2008 12:27 PM:

" The defendants should now ask for help from the ACLU, there is no way they can expect a fair trial in Calaveras. The court, DA and public defender are more interested in ending this case immediately as there budgets are hemorrhaging.

It now appears that the defendants are advancing a self-defense position. Shouldn't their attorney already have known about this fact? How close did they get to signing their lives over in a court room that is now under allegations of obstructing justice,
tampering with verdicts and violating the civil rights of other non-white, non-local defendants.

Thank god this man was able to speak out and save himself, so many have suffered the consequence of not being defended. "

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