A trial date has finally been set for the Jurupa Valley man accused of fatally shooting his grandmother inside her home more than five years ago. James Paul Lopez is scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 20, 2027, on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Roberta L. Lopez, who was 68 when she was killed in August 2021.
Judge Joshlyn Pulliam set the trial date during a pretrial hearing Tuesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, according to mynewsla.com. The prosecution and defense indicated they would use the last week of January to prepare for trial proceedings, and no intervening hearings are currently scheduled. Lopez is charged with first-degree murder along with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, and he remains held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
The case traces back to shortly before 10 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2021, when Lopez was involved in an unspecified dispute with his grandmother at her home in the 5000 block of El Palomino Drive, along the Indian Hills Golf Club fairway in Jurupa Valley. Sheriff's Sgt. Ed Baeza said Lopez allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot her during that confrontation. Witnesses called 911, and deputies and paramedics reached the scene within a few minutes, finding Roberta Lopez dead inside the home, according to the same account from mynewsla.com.
Arrest and Years of Legal Delays
Central Homicide Unit detectives located Lopez nearby and detained him for questioning without incident before he was booked into jail, the report states. Lopez has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. The case has been repeatedly delayed because of the defense's ongoing motions for mental-health evaluations, with the most recent evaluations occurring in 2025 and involving a forensic psychiatrist and a neuro-psychologist, per the same account. Lopez has now been deemed mentally competent to stand trial.
Earlier coverage of the case has varied on some basic details. A 2024 report from mynewsla.com described Lopez as a 28-year-old arrested in 2021 and noted that he had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, while a 2021 report from the Daily Bulletin listed him as 25 years old and said he had pleaded not guilty to murder. The 2026 report puts his age at 30. That same 2024 mynewsla.com report also said both sides had previously agreed to be prepared to move forward during the last week of September that year, though Tuesday's hearing confirmed the case is now headed toward the January 2027 date instead.
What Happens Next
With competency established and no further hearings currently on the calendar, the case is set to move toward trial preparation in the final week of January. The dossier of court proceedings does not detail why the case's earlier trial dates did not go forward, nor does it specify the substance of the mental-health evaluations beyond the competency finding. For now, Lopez remains in custody as both sides prepare for the January trial date.
