Bio

Michael Anthony Lopez Jr. was born on April 28, 1981, in Harris County, Texas. Texas prison records list him as Hispanic, male, and a laborer before incarceration. He had an eighth-grade education and no prior adult prison record at the time he was received by TDCJ.

Lopez was 17 years old when the murder occurred. Because he was legally treated as an adult in the capital case, prosecutors sought the death penalty. His age later became central to his legal status after the U.S. Supreme Court barred executions for crimes committed by juveniles.

By September 1998, Lopez was living in the Houston area. During the early morning hours of September 29, 1998, he was among several people in a vehicle stopped by Deputy Constable Eakin. The stop led to a foot chase and the fatal shooting.

After his conviction, Lopez was placed on Texas death row. In 2005, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the Supreme Court’s juvenile death-penalty ruling. He remains imprisoned under a life sentence.

Murder Story

The murder happened during the early morning hours of September 29, 1998, in Houston, Harris County, Texas. Deputy Constable Michael Eakin was on routine patrol when he stopped a vehicle carrying several people. While Eakin was questioning one of the passengers, Michael Anthony Lopez Jr. suddenly ran from the scene. Eakin chased him on foot. The two ran out of sight of the other passengers near the stopped vehicle.

A short time later, the remaining passengers heard two or more gunshots. Other officers soon arrived and detained the passengers who had stayed near the vehicle. Eakin’s body was later found in a grassy field about 300 to 400 yards from the stopped vehicle. He had been shot in the neck area. Later reporting described the shooting as close-range and stated that Lopez and Eakin struggled before Eakin was shot.

Lopez was arrested the same day. He was charged with capital murder because the victim was a law-enforcement officer killed while performing official duties. At trial, prosecutors argued that Lopez killed Eakin to avoid arrest. The defense focused on Lopez’s youth, background, and immaturity. Despite those arguments, the jury convicted him of capital murder and later decided that he should receive the death penalty.

Lopez was sentenced to death on June 23, 1999, when he was 18 years old. He had been 17 at the time of the offense. His case became one of several Texas juvenile death-penalty cases affected by the national debate over whether offenders under 18 could be executed. In 2002, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Lopez’s appeal, including his argument that his death sentence was unconstitutional because he was 17 at the time of the crime.

That changed after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roper v. Simmons in 2005, holding that the execution of offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crimes violated the Eighth Amendment. After that ruling, Texas commuted the death sentences of multiple prisoners who had been juveniles at the time of their crimes, including Lopez.

TDCJ lists Michael Lopez, former death-row number 999318, as removed from death row on June 24, 2005, with his sentence commuted to life under new number 1306207 because he was 17 at the time of the offense.