BOISE, Idaho — A Boise man was sentenced Monday morning to 40 years in prison for shooting a 24-year-old to death during a robbery gone wrong near the Boise State campus last year.
Matthew Allen Crawford, 23, will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of that sentence.
Prosecutors say Crawford and another man, 24-year-old Devoune Mosley, made plans to meet up with the victim in March 2021 outside his home on Chrisway Drive under the guise of purchasing Xanax from him. Instead, prosecutors say, Crawford brought a gun to the meetup with the intention to hide until Guy Lopez II got into the car, then attack him from behind, knock him unconscious, and take the drugs.
The plan went awry, however, when Lopez fought back. The victim was able to get distance from Crawford and drew his own gun, firing a single shot. Crawford then shot back multiple times, hitting and fatally wounding Lopez.
In a victim impact statement, Lopez' mother Elisa Reyes said she was haunted by the thought of her son bleeding on the ground as his killer fled.
"They just left him there on the street like an animal, to die by himself," she said. "He took his life and didn't even care about him."
She described her son as intelligent and kind, the type of person who never hung up from a phone call without first telling her he loved her. Because of his murder, Reyes said, Lopez will never get the chance to get married or have children of his own.
"He was just starting out his life, and I was so very proud of him. Although he was a man, I still considered him my baby," she said. "This was not supposed to happen. I did not expect him to die before me."
Lopez' fiancee Audrey Wilcox and his father Guy Lopez also spoke before the sentence was handed down, with the victim's father urging Crawford to make something of himself in prison and dedicate his life to making up for the hurt he had inflicted.
"I wouldn't wish this kind of pain and emptiness on anyone, not even you," he said.
Crawford and Mosely were arrested later that night after leading officers on a car chase.
Crawford pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February; Mosley has pleaded not guilty and is set to appear in court Wednesday.
Judge Nancy Baskin told Crawford that although she did not believe he had set off to Lopez' home that night with the intention to kill him, it was a "faulty plan to even attempt this."
Crawford was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, and Xanax that night, and was a regular Fentanyl user, the judge said. Baskin also told Crawford that he had multiple opportunities to abandon the plan entirely or leave his gun behind.
"It is a crime based on greed," she said. "It is a crime based on a lack of concern for an individual in our society, an individual you didn't even know."
In addition to the prison time, Crawford was ordered to pay $16,838 in restitution and a $5,000 civil fine.
The judge urged him to spend his time behind bars working to better himself and help others, and told Lopez' family and friends in the courtroom that no sentence could bring back what had been taken from them.
"He was a person full of love, he was a person who had plans for a big life. This is a sad case because he had so much of his life left to live," she said of Lopez. "I do not believe you are an evil person, Mr. Crawford, but I believe you made a horrible mistake."
Watch more crime news:
See the latest Treasure Valley crime news in our YouTube playlist: