A 25-year-old man was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for his involvement in the killing of an inmate inside the El Paso County Jail Annex in 2023.
According to the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office, George Lopez pleaded guilty to murder on Jan. 15 for his role in the death of 57-year-old inmate Jesus Torres, who was allegedly battered to death by several other convicts inside a shared cell in November 2023.
According to the DA’s office, Lopez admitted in his plea to planning with other inmates to attack Torres, acting as a “lookout” and assisting in the cleaning of the cell following the fatal attack.
In December 2023, following the attack, El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles described Torres’ murder as a “pre-planned attack,” saying that it occurred about 7 p.m. during a shift change.
So far, in addition to Lopez, 27-year-old Cristian Carrillo has been convicted and jailed for his involvement; he, too, pleaded guilty and admitted to being a “lookout.”
The other detainees charged with the attack were identified as:
- 31-year-old Manuel Alejandro Vargas
- 18-year-old Juan Alberto Ortiz
- 38-year-old Jesus Adrian Rocha
- 29-year-old Jovani Dionicio Ramos
Following the murder, an administrative investigation by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit and a review by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that inmate inspections were not completed properly, and the jail annex received a “non-compliance” notice in January 2024.
At the time, disciplinary action against a jail employee was halted since they allegedly quit that same month, just a few days before the administrative investigation was completed.
Nearly a year after the murder, Torres’ family filed a wrongful death case, alleging negligence and claiming that jail authorities neglected to protect the inmate who was awaiting trial.
The family says in the lawsuit that the jail neglected to do proper inmate check-ins, resulting in Torres’ discovery 12 hours after he was allegedly killed.
El Paso County attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, but in December 2025, a judge allowed it to proceed.
Attorney Dean Malone, who is representing Torres’ family in the lawsuit, termed the murder “a travesty and easily preventable” and promised to hold the county responsible.
“Our law firm and Jesus’ family are pleased that the Court allowed the lawsuit to proceed. Jesus’ death was a travesty that could have been avoided. After a violent attack, Jesus’ body lay in the jail for several hours. “We will continue to stand with his family to hold El Paso County accountable,” Malone stated.
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