Teenager charged in deadly 2022 school shooting in Iowa seeks to withdraw guilty plea

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of the 10 teenagers charged in a deadly 2022 shooting at an Iowa high school now wants to withdraw his guilty plea.

Octavio Lopez Sanchez Jr. was originally charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of willful injury-causing serious injury. In August, Lopez Sanchez agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of willful injury, WHO-TV reported. He was scheduled to face sentencing Nov. 7.

Fifteen-year-old Jose David Lopez was killed in the shooting on March 7, 2022, on the grounds of East High School in Des Moines. Two other teenagers were seriously injured. Lopez was not a student at the school.

Lopez Sanchez filed a motion last week to withdraw his guilty plea. In the motion, Lopez Sanchez said his legal counsel was ineffective and incorrectly told him that if found guilty he would face life in prison without parole. But the motion noted that as a minor, a life sentence is not mandatory.

The motion said that if Lopez Sanchez knew the full range of sentence options, he wouldn’t have agreed to plead guilty. It also stated that he wasn’t given the chance to speak with relatives before agreeing to the plea.

No date has been set for a hearing on Lopez Sanchez’s motion.

Eight other people charged in the crime have pleaded guilty.