{"id":73361,"date":"2016-08-26T08:35:06","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T15:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=73361"},"modified":"2016-09-22T09:11:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T16:11:11","slug":"lancaster-man-gets-45-to-life-for-atv-riders-murder-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2016\/08\/26\/lancaster-man-gets-45-to-life-for-atv-riders-murder-in-the-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster man gets 45 to life for ATV rider’s murder in the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"[Main
[Main image] Authorities investigate the scene where Stephen Finson was found dead Feb. 24, 2014. [Inset] Arturo Lopez and victim Stephen Finson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>LANCASTER – A Lancaster man who gunned down an all-terrain vehicle enthusiast in the desert 2 1\/2 years ago was sentenced Thursday to 45 years to life in state prison.<\/p>\n

Arturo Lopez<\/b>, 41, was found guilty June 2 of second-degree murder for the shooting death of Stephen Finson<\/b>, 47, of Lancaster.<\/p>\n

Lopez 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.<\/p>\n

Finson’s body was found Feb. 24, 2014, on the ground near his ATV in the 13300 block of East Avenue H in Lancaster, about eight hours after family members reported that he had failed to return from the desert.<\/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.<\/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\u2019s deputies in April of 2014 and has remained behind bars since then.<\/p>\n

Finson was shot by Lopez while riding and taking pictures in the desert, according to Deputy District Attorney John Evans.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Man convicted of murdering ATV rider in the desert<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LANCASTER – A Lancaster man who gunned down an all-terrain vehicle enthusiast in the desert 2 1\/2 years ago was sentenced Thursday to 45 years to life in state prison. Arturo Lopez, 41, was found guilty June 2 of second-degree murder for the shooting death of Stephen Finson, 47, of Lancaster. Lopez was also convicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73361"}],"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\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73361\/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=73361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}