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POMONA (CNS) - An ex-con who fled from police during a traffic stop in Pomona and crashed into another vehicle at more than 100 mph, killing its driver, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 20 years to life in state prison.
Jurors deliberated for 32 minutes before finding Eli Lopez, 25, of Pomona, guilty in March of one count each of second-degree murder, evading causing death, hit-and-run causing death and driving a vehicle without consent, according to Deputy District Attorney Michelle Weiske.
The charges stemmed from a Feb. 3, 2021, crash in which a stolen Honda Accord driven by Lopez collided with a Nissan Maxima containing Rolando Pinto-Mendez near San Antonio Avenue and Philadelphia Street.
Authorities determined that the Honda was traveling at 106 mph at the time of the collision, Weiske said.
Pinto-Mendez, 26, of Pomona, died from blunt force trauma at the scene of the crash, the prosecutor said.
Lopez was located and taken into custody about 45 minutes after the crash, and has remained behind bars since then.
Police had tried to pull him over after seeing him run a stop sign, but called the pursuit off about 40 seconds later because he subsequently ran through several other stop signs and were not chasing him at the time of the crash, according to the prosecutor.
At Lopez's sentencing, the victim's aunt, Maria De Rosario Ortega, questioned why Lopez didn't stop, saying that her nephew would have been able to see his younger brother graduate from high school.
She called her nephew "selfless, kind, responsible and loving" and said he was a huge fan of "Batman," adding that she thought the defendant should think of him every time he sees the Batman character or logo.
Superior Court Judge Mike Camacho ordered Lopez -- whom he said had a "significant" prior criminal history -- to serve 19 years and eight months to life behind bars.
The judge said he agreed with defense attorney Monica Perez's argument that the murder and evading charges involved the same conduct, which meant that he could not be sentenced consecutively on both of those counts as he was on the other charges.