Insets, left to right: Oscar Munoz, Moses Lopez (KXTV/YouTube). Background: Family and friends protesting against the plea deal that Oscar Munoz received after his murder charge was dropped in connection with the death of his stepson Moses Lopez (KXTV/YouTube).
A California father is furious at prosecutors for giving his son's stepdad a plea deal to drop a murder charge against him after he abused his 4-year-old, who died after being rushed to the hospital from the stepdad's apartment.
"They gave up," blasted Felipe Lopez, father of Moses Lopez, who was found with bruises and injuries all over his body after being abused by his stepdad, Oscar Munoz, according to court documents obtained by The Stockton Record.
"They failed my son," Lopez told reporters on Tuesday as Munoz was sentenced to six years behind bars after accepting a plea deal that saw him plead no contest to child abuse and willful cruelty to a child, plus a three-year enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
Munoz and Moses' mother, Camila Pizarro-Vergara, were both arrested in 2020 and charged with murder in connection with Moses' death on Nov. 16, 2020. The Tracy Police Department said in a press release that officers were called to the couple's apartment in the 3800 block of West Grant Line Road on a report of a child not breathing when they found Moses.
"Police and medical personnel responded, and [Moses] was transported to a local hospital, via ambulance," the TPD release said. "The child later died after life-saving efforts failed to revive him."
A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Record stated that in October 2020, Moses' daycare had noticed an injury to the child's left ear. In November 2020, the daycare notified Child Protective Services after staff reported seeing injuries to Moses' left ear, chest and face, according to the affidavit.
On the day Moses died, Munoz said, he noticed the boy was not moving, so he called his parents and then 911, according to the affidavit. "When treating Moses, they [paramedics] noticed that Moses had severe bruising in the back of the head and neck area," the affidavit alleged.
Munoz and Moses' mother met in August 2019 and got married in February 2020. Lopez told reporters Tuesday that one of the last times he saw his son was on his birthday in June 2020. Pizarro-Vergara allegedly blocked Lopez's number and blocked him on social media, while refusing to let him spend time with Moses.
"He was just a little 4-year-old boy, he did not deserve that," Lopez said Tuesday. "No child deserves that."
Moses' family gathered with supporters outside the San Joaquin County courthouse where Munoz was sentenced to protest his plea deal. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office released a statement explaining why an agreement was made.
"In 2022, our office commenced a jury trial where Oscar Munoz was charged with murder," the DA's office explained. "The trial resulted in a hung jury with a majority of the jurors voting for acquittal. After reviewing the evidence and the testimony, our office accepted a plea to child abuse with great bodily injury with a sentence of 9 years in state prison."
The DA's office said that before the entry of the plea on July 9, it "conferred with the victim's family and advised them of the intended resolution," per the statement.
"The entire office understands and deeply shares in the community's profound grief during this unimaginably difficult time," the DA's release said. "The death of young Moses is a tragedy for which this office is committed to achieving justice."
According to prosecutors, Munoz's plea will count as a strike under California's "Three Strikes Law." Deputy District Attorney Elton Grau told Moses' family in court that the decision to reach a plea deal was ultimately based on what prosecutors believed they could prove.
"There are times in our cases where the ethics of a prosecutor calls, and it asks us to stand up and to say, 'Can you prove this?'" Grau explained. "And it breaks my heart when I look at all of you to say: I could not, I could not prove that, and that's why I had to resolve it."
Outside the courthouse, Lopez told reporters, "This is not right, like I said. This is not justice for my son."
Court records show that Pizarro-Vergara is still facing charges in connection with Moses' death and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for an arraignment.
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