Portales man gets five years after chase

PORTALES — A Portales man on Friday was sentenced to five years in the New Mexico Department of Corrections after pleading no contest to charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and vehicular homicide.

Eduardo Lopez, 24, fled in his vehicle from Roosevelt County Sheriff's deputies for eight miles in August 2016. The incident ended in the death of 33-year-old Irisema Hernandez when Lopez swerved to avoid road spikes and hit a tree.

Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Donna Mowrer sentenced Lopez to five years in the department of corrections with four additional years suspended in favor of supervised probation.

Mowrer also deemed the crimes serious violent offenses, requiring Lopez to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for release.

Lopez asked Mowrer not to label his charges as serious violent offenses, to which she replied by recalling the events of Aug. 31, 2016.

"On that day, you put yourself in danger, you put (Sheriff Malin Parker) in danger, put (Lt. Javier Sanchez) in danger, and put others on the roadway in danger, and ultimately proved to be fatal to Irisema Hernandez," she said.

"I understand you're asking for leniency, but unfortunately, Irisema's children don't get their mom back at the end of your sentence."

Lopez' attorney, public defender Donald Pieper, said his only disappointment in the case was that his client's charges were deemed a serious violent offense.

Assistant District Attorney Jake Boazman declined comment.

Court records show Parker and Sanchez encountered Lopez in a hotel parking lot with Hernandez, who was in violation of house arrest orders connected to charges from April.

Hernandez had been on house arrest in connection with drug charges, records show.