SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Supreme Court has overturned the murder conviction of a man found guilty of killing his wife in a moving pickup truck.
Komasquin Lopez has long maintained that his wife shot herself, and on Friday the high court tossed out the guilty verdict.
The justices ruled the trial judge was wrong to allow prosecutors to tell the jury about previous allegations that Lopez had pointed a gun at people and allow an expert to testify about how likely Shannon Lopez was to kill herself.
Authorities have said Shannon Lopez had a “toxic” level of methamphetamine in her system at the time of her death in December 2013. Komasquin Lopez said the shooting happened after he threatened to leave her.
Most Read Nation & World Stories
Prosecutors, though, said the physical evidence didn’t match a suicide.