After shooting his wife 13 times, Jesus David Lopez dropped their 3-year-old daughter off with a relative, spent $130 at a mall and $146 at a Wal-Mart.
That doesn't sound like a man overcome by regret after committing an impulsive act, Deputy Pima County Attorney Nicol Green told jurors Wednesday morning.
Those, Green said, are the actions of a man who thought about and killed his wife knowingly and intentionally.
Wednesday was the first day in the first-degree murder trial of Lopez, a 32-year-old Tucsonan accused of killing his wife, Angel, in September 2005.
Jurors spent most of the morning listening to Green and Assistant Pima County Public Defender Suzanne Crawford give their opening statements.
Green argued there is no question that Lopez is guilty of first-degree murder.
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Crawford, however, said the evidence will show Lopez has been diagnosed as having impulsivity characteristics, which render him incapable of stopping to think of the consequences of his actions in stressful situations.
On Sept. 14, 2005, Angel Lopez was on her way to work when she called two friends to tell them she wouldn't be able to make it to work after all because she was arguing with her husband, Green said. She told the women she was going to kick her husband out.
Less than an hour later, a neighbor of the Lopez family called 911 to report hearing gunshots.
Thanks to statements made by Jesus Lopez and the physical evidence at the scene, detectives believe the couple argued in their bedroom and then Angel Lopez left the room, Green said.
Detectives found 13 shell casings in the hallway leading from the door of the bedroom up to Angel Lopez's body, Green said.
Even if the first shot was fired impulsively, Lopez had plenty of time to think about what he was doing when he pulled the trigger the other 12 times, Green said.
Further evidence of Lopez's guilt are the inconsistent statements he made to numerous relatives and police after the shooting, Green said.
Lopez told detectives that after his wife left the bedroom he put the gun to his head and then promptly blanked out — only coming to while driving with his daughter, Green said.
Immediately following the shooting, however, Lopez called his mother and told her he'd done something really bad to his wife and "she's dead. She's dead. She's laying on the floor."
If he had blanked out he wouldn't have known his wife was on the floor dead, Green said.
Lopez also gave a variety of reasons for the argument, Green said. He has said they argued over money, over drugs, over truck repairs and over her kicking him out.
Crawford told jurors she will present witnesses who will testify about how distraught Lopez was following the shooting, including one who will testify he was sobbing and crying out "I can't believe this. I can't believe I hurt her" and another who will say he curled up in a ball and rocked himself while calling out for his wife.
The trial is being held before Pima County Superior Court Judge Christopher Browning.
