A man who used his girlfriend to help rob and kill a man at a Lakewood park last year was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years, 4 months in prison.
Ramone Daniels, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder with a gun enhancement for the March 31, 2011, shooting death of Elias Lopez Lopez, 25, Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCann said.
Daniels’ father spoke during the sentencing, saying his son was manipulated by his accomplice, Bethany Ann Tesfaye, and struggled in life because he was born with a drug addiction.
Lopez Lopez’s brother and two cousins talked about how his death devastated the family and how he worked hard to support his parents.
“We do not understand why people with no scruples exist, people who take innocent lives without thinking about the damage they cause,” Lopez Lopez’s parents wrote the court. “We demand that the full weight of the law come down on the culprits.”
Prosecutors said Daniels was hiding in the bushes at Ward Lake Park when his girlfriend, Tesfaye, lured Lopez Lopez to sit and talk on a bench. Daniels then jumped out and attacked Lopez Lopez, hitting him in the head with a gun and fracturing his skull.
As Lopez Lopez tried to run, Daniels fired two shots and struck him in the back of the head. Daniels then took Lopez Lopez’s wallet, keys, cellphone and cash from his pockets.
stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com
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