Columbus man turns down plea ends up with life in prison, plus 65 years for 2021 Beallwood murder

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) A Columbus man involved in a string of 2021 Beallwood-area robberies against Hispanic victims that led to one man’s murder was sentenced Thursday afternoon.

Derek Riley rolled the dice in Muscogee County Superior Court this month.

He turned down a guilty plea in connection with the murder of 41-year-old Lorenzo Vasquez-Lopez in October 2021. That plea would have been for 28 years to serve. Two of his co-defendants, Mikita Leonard Antouvious Pitts, took guilty pleas…

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