LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Nevada man on death row for the brutal killing of his 4-year-old stepdaughter in 1985 died Monday, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.
Manuel Lopez, 62, died at High Desert State Prison northwest of Las Vegas. The county medical examiner had not determined his cause or manner of death, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported Wednesday afternoon.
Manuel Lopez was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for killing his stepdaughter, Jessica Cevallos, who died from a ruptured spleen. His wife, Maria Lopez, was granted immunity from prosecution as an accessory after she agreed to testify in his trial, where she said that her husband beat the girl, burnt her and hung her from her a hook by her hair.
During the trial, Manuel Lopez argued that his wife was responsible for Cevallos’ death and that he didn’t report her because he loved her. Maria Lopez told the court that she was afraid of her husband but didn’t report his abuse because she feared being deported.
Manuel Lopez was the second person to die on Nevada’s death row in the past month. In mid-April, 72-year-old Patrick McKenna died following a surgery and a series of heart attacks. McKenna was sentenced in 1979 for first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery.
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