CASPER — A 26-year-old Evansville man charged with killing another man in a drug deal gone bad pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Thursday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Rajion Lee Vu was originally charged with second-degree murder for the Feb. 1 shooting death of Brandon A. Lopez, 30, of Casper during a marijuana deal on Cottonwood Street on the southwest side of the city.
Vu sat in Natrona County District Court beside his attorney, Keith Nachbar, in chains and a jail-issue jumpsuit. He briefly appeared to read a half-page document before the hearing began.
Judge Kerri Johnson listened as Nachbar and Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Elisabeth Grill outlined the plea deal that includes reducing the original second-degree murder charge and dropping one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
The plea deal retained a charge of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.
Judge Johnson asked Vu if he understood the terms of the agreement.
“Yes, your honor,” he said.
Vu then pleaded guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge that involves someone “involuntarily but recklessly” taking another’s life.
Fear Of A Threat
Vu told the court that he met Lopez to sell him marijuana, who became angry while sitting inside Vu’s vehicle. He said Lopez told Vu and his girlfriend he had a gun.
“I thought he was going to kill me and my girlfriend,” Vu said.
When Lopez got out of the car, Vu said he grabbed his pistol and fired three shots at him and “one hit him.”
The judge then discussed the conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance charge, and Vu agreed that he had marijuana that he got from someone else, and that he intended to sell it to Lopez.
Nachbar told the judge that he would not argue for any change in bond status, but advised he planned to present a lot of evidence at the sentencing hearing on Vu’s behalf.
“I am going to ask for the better part of a day to enter evidence,” he said.
Grill said the prosecution would present victim impact statements as well.
Following the hearing, members of the Lopez family declined comment about the plea deal.
‘I Have A Gun’
The second-degree murder charge dropped carries a penalty of not less than 20 years in prison, while the involuntary manslaughter charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years.
During his arraignment in May, Nachbar indicated that he intended to present a self-defense case on behalf of his client.
Casper Police Detective Chris Miller testified at a March preliminary hearing in Casper Circuit Curt that Angelina Smith, Vu’s girlfriend, told police that Lopez got into their Subaru Impreza on the evening of Feb. 1, examined the marijuana given him by Vu in a white box, and then threatened them.
“I have a gun and I’ll (expletive) shoot you,” Miller testified Smith heard Lopez say, before Lopez got out of the vehicle with both of his hands holding the white box with marijuana.
No cash allegedly changed hands.
Miller said Smith saw the pair get out of the vehicle and face each other, but did not see Vu take a gun she knew was in the car.
Shortly after that, she heard three shots, Miller testified.
During the preliminary hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson focused on evidence about the trajectory of the single .38-caliber bullet that entered Lopez in the back and ended up lodged at the base of his brain.
He said it proved Lopez was crouching at the time the bullet entered his body. Distance from the casings and his body showed he had tried to run away.
Information from an autopsy showed Lopez could not have taken more than a step or two, then would have been paralyzed because of the location of the bullet against his spinal vertebrae, Nelson said at the hearing.
Judge Johnson ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
The involuntary manslaughter charge, in addition to a potential 20 years in prison, also carries a penalty of up to a $10,000 fine or both. The conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine or both.
Vu remains jailed on a $750,000 bond.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
