Man's conviction upheld for stabbing death of wife in North Hollywood

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A state appeals court has upheld a man's murder conviction for stabbing his wife, whose body was found in a closet in their North Hollywood apartment.

In a ruling released Thursday, the three-judge panel of California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's contention that jurors in Nick Vedol Lopez's trial should have been given any opportunity to voluntary manslaughter, as well as the defense's contention that a judge erred in allowing Lopez to represent himself for most of his trial despite an earlier concern about his mental competence.

Lopez, now 54, was convicted of first-degree murder for the February 2019 killing of his 52-year-old wife, Tanya, who was stabbed 32 times.

Lopez called 911 from his wife's cellphone at 1:51 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2019, and told the dispatcher that someone had been stabbed at the home, according to the 25-page appeals court opinion.

Police found the woman's naked body upside down in a bedroom closet and escorted the woman's three grandchildren outside, the judges noted.

Lopez was arrested later that day after an off-duty sheriff's deputy called 911 after seeing Lopez walking on an on-ramp of the Foothill (210) Freeway in Azusa with blood covering his hands and his clothes, according to the notice.

DNA testing of blood recovered from the knives found in the bedroom determined that it contained DNA from both the defendant and the victim, the judges noted.

The appeals court panel found that there was “no diagnosis of mental illness preventing Lopez from performing the basic tasks of self-representation” and sought to replace his court-appointed attorney before the trial because the defendant preferred to argue that the crime scene was staged and that his wife was still alive when the police arrived.

Lopez was sentenced in August 2022 to 85 years to life in prison.