{"id":71950,"date":"2016-06-02T20:04:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T03:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=71950"},"modified":"2016-06-03T22:05:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-04T05:05:11","slug":"man-convicted-of-murdering-atv-rider-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2016\/06\/02\/man-convicted-of-murdering-atv-rider-in-the-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Man convicted of murdering ATV rider in the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arturo
Arturo Lopez faces a maximum possible sentence of 45 years to life in state prison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – <\/span>A Lancaster man was convicted Thursday of\u00a0killing a man who was riding his all-terrain vehicle in the desert more than two years ago.<\/p>\n

The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding Arturo Lopez<\/b> guilty of second-degree murder for the Feb. 23, 2014, shooting death of <\/span>Stephen Finson<\/b>, 47, of Lancaster, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lopez, 40, was also convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime and offering false evidence, along with three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Feb. 23, 2014, Finson went for a desert ride on his all-terrain vehicle but did not return home. After a desperate all-night search by his family members, Finson\u2019s body was located the next morning near 135th Street East and Avenue H.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Stephen
Stephen L. Finson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Navy veteran was still wearing his helmet, and his Honda ATC 250R was upright some 40 to 50 feet north of the dry wash, sheriff\u2019s officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

An autopsy revealed that Finson died from a gunshot to the head that went through the back of his helmet and exited through his open face mask, homicide detectives said.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a month after Finson\u2019s death, and two weeks after a $10,000 reward was offered to help solve the crime, authorities were tipped off to ex-convict Arturo Lopez. He was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on April 30, 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Finson
Finson was found shot to death near his ATV in the 13300 block of East Avenue H.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a preliminary court hearing in May of 2014, Gerardo Amaya testified that he was riding in a vehicle with Lopez on Feb. 23, 2014, when Lopez stopped the car and said he wanted to \u201ctest fire a new pistol.\u201d Lopez then got out of the car and fired his weapon twice towards the desert, Amaya testified.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the preliminary court hearing, Lopez\u2019s ex-girlfriend testified that Lopez told her he thought he shot and killed someone, and then asked her to hide him from law enforcement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sentencing for Lopez is scheduled for July 14 in Department A16 at the Los Angeles County <\/span>Superior Court, Antelope Valley Branch. Lopez faces a maximum possible sentence <\/span>of 45 years to life in state prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/span><\/p>\n

2 plead to accessory in murder of Lancaster ATC rider<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Man ordered to trial for murder of ATC rider<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Felon pleads not guilty to Stephen Finson\u2019s murder<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Man charged with murder of Stephen Finson<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Suspect arrested for the murder of Stephen Finson<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Memorial service to be held for Stephen Finson<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Missing man found shot to death<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – A Lancaster man was convicted Thursday of\u00a0killing a man who was riding his all-terrain vehicle in the desert more than two years ago. The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding Arturo Lopez guilty of second-degree murder for the Feb. 23, 2014, shooting death of Stephen Finson, 47, of Lancaster, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}