A North County woman mourned her brother's death in a North County courthouse Tuesday while knowing that her husband is the alleged killer.
Miriam Lopez's brother, Marco Gutierrez, was allegedly killed by her husband, Jorge Lopez, who led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash on Friday in Oceanside.
Jorge appeared in court Tuesday for his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to three counts, including murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and evading officers causing bodily injury.
Judge Marshall Y. Hockett set Jorge's bail at $2 million, saying Jorge is a flight risk and "an extreme danger to the community."
Highway patrol officers said two cars were street racing at speeds over 100 miles per hour on State Route 78 when an officer tried to pull them over.
One slowed down, but Jorge took off on residential streets at Mission Avenue going 80 miles per hour, officers said.
Then, while traveling on Mesa Drive, Jorge's car hit two dips, fishtailed and crashed into a parked truck, killing his brother-in-law instantly.
Jorge and another witness claimed he heard officers laughing at him when he found out his brother-in-law was dead.
Another witness, Shauna Haley, told NBC 7 last week she didn’t hear officers laughing but did hear the driver ask officers to shoot him.
The OPD conducted a preliminary investigation of the alleged misconduct. They reviewed CHP video footage and spoke to several witnesses in the neighborhood. They determined there was no evidence that the officers behaved inappropriately.
The prosecutor, Patrick Espinoza, said there was evidence that Lopez had been drinking. He said Lopez had three speeding tickets in 2010, one for going more than 100 mph, and a "wet reckless" last year, at least one failure to appear for a court date.
