Mendocino County Jury Finds Man Guilty of Drunkenly Stealing and Operating an Excavator

The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations Wednesday to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty of all charges.

Defendant Antonio Lopez, Jr., age 36, of Cloverdale, was found guilty of:

Resisting an Executive Officer by Unlawful Threats of Violence, a felony;

Unlawful Theft of a Motor Vehicle (an excavator) of a Value Greater Than $950, also a felony;

Driving a Motor Vehicle (the excavator) Under The Influence of Alcohol, a misdemeanor, and

- Advertisement -

Hit-and-Run Driving (swinging the bucket of the excavator erratically and knocking down fencing), also a misdemeanor.

The jury also found true special allegations included in the charging document alleging the defendant suffered a prior DUI conviction in 2019 in Mendocino County; and that he refused to submit to a chemical test on demand of the investigating CHP officer.

Following a court trial Thursday morning on circumstances in aggravation, the defendant’s case was referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation.

Imposition of sentence is now calendared to take place on June 6, 2024 at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department A of the Ukiah courthouse.

The law enforcement agencies that gathered the evidence necessary to secure Wednesday’s convictions were the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Justice crime laboratory.

The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence to the jury was Deputy District Attorney Jamie Pearl.

Special thanks are extended to the civilian witnesses who appeared and testified before the jury as to what they had observed last January in Hopland prior to the arrival of the CHP.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the three-day jury trial.

- Advertisement -