Guilty Plea Entered In Eufaula City Councilman's Death

Saturday, January 13th 2007, 6:37 am

By: News On 6

EUFAULA, Okla. (AP) -- A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Eufaula city councilman.

State law will require Richard Lopez Junior to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence he received for the shooting death of Eufaula City Councilman Larry Nichols.

Police found the 67-year-old Nichols dead in the kitchen of his lakefront home from a bullet wound in the head on the morning of January 25th, 2004.

Investigators found a shell casing from a small-caliber handgun next to Larry Nichols' body. They also found signs of a struggle. Police later found Lopez in possession of the murder weapon.