A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez. Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment. "Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself. A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction. Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014. Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived.
A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man." "He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times." In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled. Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom. "Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said. It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial. Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him." Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?" Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven. "Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said. She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone. "They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said. Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death. "I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trial Among the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment. Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time. At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene. Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt. The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs. Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun. Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document. A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw. Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere." Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's. Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting. La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting. She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area. Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment. Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers. Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said. The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul. Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28. Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses. The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez. Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment. "Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself. A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction. Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014. Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man." "He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times." In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled. Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom. "Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said. It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial. Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl."
She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him." Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?" Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven. "Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said. She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone. "They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said. Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death. "I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trial Among the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment. Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time. At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene. Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt. The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs. Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun. Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document. A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw. Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere." Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's. Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting. La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting. She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area. Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment. Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers. Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said. The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul. Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28. Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses. The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez. Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment. "Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself. A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction. Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014. Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man." "He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times." In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled. Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom. "Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said. It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial. Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him." Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?" Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven. "Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said. She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone. "They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said. Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death. "I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out."
The trial Among the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment. Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time. At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene. Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt. The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs. Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun. Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document. A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw. Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere." Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's. Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting. La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting. She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area. Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment. Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers. Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said. The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul. Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28. Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses. The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez. Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment. "Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself. A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction. Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014. Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man." "He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times." In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled. Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom. "Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said. It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial. Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]] She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him." Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?" Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven. "Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said. She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone. "They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said. Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death. "I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trial Among the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment. Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time. At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene. Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt. The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs. Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun. Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document. A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw. Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks.
Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere." Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's. Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting. La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting. She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area. Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment. Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers. Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said. The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul. Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28. Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses. The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez.Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment."Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself.A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction.Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014.Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived.
A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man.""He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times."In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled.Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom."Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said.It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial.Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him."Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?"Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven."Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said.She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone."They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said.Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death."I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trialAmong the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment.Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time.At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene.Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt.The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs.Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun.Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document.A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw.Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere."Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's.Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting.La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting.She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area.Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment.Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers.Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said.The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul.Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28.Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses.The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez.Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment."Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself.A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction.Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014.Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man.""He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times."In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled.Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom."Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said.It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial.Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl."
She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him."Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?"Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven."Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said.She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone."They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said.Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death."I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trialAmong the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment.Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time.At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene.Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt.The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs.Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun.Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document.A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw.Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere."Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's.Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting.La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting.She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area.Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment.Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers.Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said.The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul.Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28.Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses.The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez.Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment."Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself.A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction.Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014.Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man.""He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times."In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled.Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom."Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said.It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial.Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him."Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?"Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven."Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said.She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone."They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said.Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death."I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out."
The trialAmong the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment.Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time.At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene.Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt.The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs.Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun.Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document.A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw.Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906433","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Shaw defends himself at his murder trial. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"633","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 20.0063037872314px;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere."Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's.Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting.La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting.She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area.Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment.Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers.Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said.The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul.Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28.Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses.The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.A Winston-Salem, N.C., man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Jose Luis "Joe" Lopez.Grand Forks District Judge Jon Jensen on Friday morning gave Delvin Lamont Shaw, 31, the maximum penalty allowed by North Dakota law-life in prison without the possibility of parole-a sentence Lopez's loved ones have been waiting to hear since he was shot to death last year at his Grand Forks apartment."Shaw's freedom ... ended when my brother took his last breath," said Monique Lopez, speaking Friday during the hearing attended by Lopez's loved ones and Shaw himself.A 12-member jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, after a one-week trial in Grand Forks District Court in June. He has appealed the conviction.Shaw, along with 19-year-old Dametrian Marcel Welch of Grand Forks, broke into Lopez's apartment, where Lopez and his fiancee, Kelsie Waller, were sleeping in the living room just inside the door in the early hours of June 24, 2014.Grand Forks Police have hypothesized Shaw meant to break into the apartment directly above Lopez's unit, where Shaw supposedly believed somebody who had threatened him by phone earlier that night lived.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906429","attributes":{"alt":"Judge Jon Jensen announces Delvin Shaw's sentence for the murder of Jose Lopez. (Logan Werlinger/Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]A struggle broke out between Lopez and Shaw, with Lopez trying to push the intruders out of his apartment. Shaw ultimately shot Lopez four times, twice in the abdomen and twice in the neck, in what Carmell Mattison, a Grand Forks County assistant state's attorney and prosecutor for the case, called "a premeditated killing of an innocent man.""He put on all black clothing, armed himself with a gun and went over to that apartment at 2 in the morning," Mattison said. "Mr. Shaw exhibited a complete disregard for human life. ... At any point, Mr. Shaw could have run away. Instead, he pulls out a gun and shoots not once, not twice. ... He shoots four times."In the end, the seriousness of the crime, Shaw's violent intentions, his lengthy criminal record dating back to 2001 and his high risk to reoffend all added up to a life sentence, Jensen ruled.Lopez died of gunshot wounds hours later at Altru Hospital, leaving his two daughters-one of whom had not been born yet-fatherless and his fiancee a single mom."Giving birth to my daughter in the same hospital where Joe died was a hard pill to swallow," Waller said.It was Waller's first time talking in court since she took the stand as a witness in Shaw's trial.Waller recalled Lopez's dedication to his daughters, how at their youngest daughter's ultrasound, he had said, "It better be another girl."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1906430","attributes":{"alt":"Family and friends remember Jose Lopez at his grave on June 24. (Grand Forks Herald)","class":"media-image","height":"667","style":"font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;","title":"","width":"1000"}}]]She lamented that Lopez would never meet their youngest daughter, Sutton, that she would never hear him "gloat about how much she was like him."Then there was their oldest daughter, Harper, who Waller said would ask, "Where is Daddy?" and "Why did he go?"Waller had to talk to a child psychologist to find out how to answer the 2-year-old's questions, to assure her Lopez never wanted to leave them and was in heaven."Trying to get back to a normal life without Joe proved to be impossible," Waller said.She detailed the physical and mental toll the shooting exacted on her, how she stopped eating after Lopez's death and was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, how she struggled with the thought of giving birth without Lopez beside her, and how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.Holidays, too, now carried a morose undertone."They all seem like days to miss him even more," she said.Shaw has insisted he was framed by investigators and witnesses for the murder. Instead of apologizing, he told the court Friday about his friend Billy, who he said was shot 13 times and survived because the ecstasy pills he was on kept his heart beating. He went on to say Lopez did not have any drugs in his system except Ibuprofen at the time of his death."I've never heard of anyone going through surgery without any drugs," he said. "And they wonder why his heart gave out."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1906371","attributes":{"alt":"Delvin Lamont Shaw reacts to his sentencing in the courtroom for the murder of Jose Lopez on Friday","class":"media-image","height":"480","title":"","width":"320"}}]]The trialAmong the evidence against Shaw at trial was testimony by his co-defendant, Welch, who admitted to being one of the two intruders at Lopez's apartment.Welch pleaded guilty in March to burglary, a Class B felony, and facilitating murder, a Class C felony, for his role in the break-in. He was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison, though he could potentially leave prison after serving six years and 10 months' time.At trial, Welch told jurors Shaw kicked in the door to Lopez's apartment and tussled with Lopez before shooting him four times, while Welch stood by and did not intervene.Other evidence against Shaw was collected at Lopez's apartment. Investigators found a black T-shirt, bearing the words "Nuketown 2025," at the crime scene, which two witnesses said belonged to Shaw. Investigators later found two clumps of black hair on the shirt.The hairs were sent to a forensic lab called Mitotyping Technologies in Pennsylvania, where testing found Shaw's DNA matched the DNA from the hairs.Investigators also found .380 caliber shell casings at the crime scene but never located the murder weapon. A few witnesses testified they knew Shaw to carry a gun.Mattison said Friday that Shaw admitted to the presentence investigator he helped dispose of the murder weapon. The presentence investigation report is a confidential document.A number of witnesses also provided a description of the shooting suspect's hair, which proved key in identifying Shaw.Two residents of the apartment building where Lopez was murdered testified they saw two black men running from the building the night of the shooting, one of them with dreadlocks.
Brenda Wilson, one of the apartment's residents, said she was familiar with dreadlocks and that the dreadlocks looked "messy." Several other witnesses described Shaw's dreadlocks as "messy" or "sticking out everywhere."Waller also testified the intruder fighting with Lopez was a black man with dreadlocks and with the "exact same" build as Shaw's.Shaw had dreadlocks the night of the shooting. He was seen by multiple witnesses without dreadlocks, his hair cut, in the hours following the shooting.La Constance Martin was another important witness in the trial whose testimony placed Shaw and Welch near Lopez's apartment building at the time of the shooting.She testified she dropped Shaw and Welch off at an apartment complex, though she did not know on which street because she was unfamiliar with the area.Less than 10 minutes later, Welch called her, asking her to pick him and Shaw up at Kmart, which is located about a block away from Lopez's apartment.Phone records backed up Martin's testimony, showing she received a call from Welch's cellphone at 1:47 a.m. June 24, a minute after the first 911 call for the shooting came in to dispatchers.Other evidence the state relied on at trial included Shaw's "paranoia" following the shooting, Mattison said.The day of the shooting, Shaw cut his dreadlocks and took a rental car to St. Paul.Investigators also found one of his cellphones dumped in the toilet of a hotel in St. Paul before arresting him June 28.Shaw, who represented himself at trial after dismissing two court-appointed attorneys, tried to convince the jury he was being framed by investigators and witnesses.The jury found Shaw guilty shortly after closing arguments were made.
