MD Man Will Not Receive Death Penalty for Murder of Wife, Stepson

A man charged with the violent murders of his estranged wife, Jane McQuain 51, and her son William McQuain 11, will not receive the death penalty, officials announced Monday afternoon. Curtis Lopez 46, is accused of stabbing and beating McQuain inside of her apartment in Germantown last October. Her son’s body was found a week later in a nearby wooded area with signs of blunt force trauma to the head. Lopez was arrested in North Carolina after driving there in McQuain’s Honda CRV, apparently with the intention of giving it to his girlfriend.

Defense attorneys have argued against some of the evidence brought against their client, but Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Mary Beth McCormick has blocked most of their appeals, including arguments that a credit card in McQuain’s name found in Lopez’s hotel room was seized without probable cause. Witness testimony suggests that money may have been a motive for why Lopez sought out his estranged wife. He now faces life without parole in a trial set to begin in January.