Man found guilty of killing Dallas girlfriend’s husband; sentenced to 62 years in prison

DALLAS - It took jurors less than an hour to reach a guilty verdict against a Tennessee man who admitted to driving to Dallas to kill his high school sweetheart’s husband. The jury then sentenced him to 62 years in prison.

Darrin Lopez ambushed and then shot Jamie Faith minutes after the American Airlines employee and his wife, Jennifer, left their Oak Cliff home to walk their dog in October 2020.

Lopez was having an affair with Jennifer for seven months prior to the murder. 

During that long-distance, rekindled relationship, it was Jennifer who crafted an elaborate scheme of fake emails and text messages to Lopez, claiming she was physically and sexually abused by her husband. 

Jennifer is serving a life sentence for her role in the murder plot.

CONTINUED COVERAGE:

• State rests, defendant takes the stand in Dallas murder-for-hire trial
• Trial continues for man accused in Dallas murder-for-hire plot
• Man blames girlfriend for manipulating him into driving to Dallas to kill her husband

All week, the defense claimed Lopez was manipulated due to a traumatic brain injury and PTSD from his military service.

"He was duped, and when someone is duped, it means someone didn’t know what they were reading wasn’t real. She created all the information," a defense attorney said.

The state argued Lopez was no victim, but an active participant, and that texts and emails don’t provide justification for his actions, driving from his home in Tennessee to Dallas to carry out the ambush.

"We are talking about the taking of a human life being justified by a high standard. It has to be your only option. Ladies and gentlemen, Lopez had so many options he did not take," a prosecutor said.

After the swift guilty verdict, the punishment trial began with the prosecutors focusing on the innocent victim in this case.

The state called Jaime’s former co-worker, along with Jason Snyder, who was Jamie’s friend of more than 15 years.

FOX 4 caught up with him during a break. 

"My hope is that the jury gets this part of it right and gives him the maximum time allowable for the crime," Snyder said.

The defense presented a very different image of Lopez, as a veteran who was severely traumatized in combat.

Greg Underwood testified about serving with Lopez and said Lopez saved his life during an explosion in Iraq. 

"I owe that man my life. I owe that man my life 10 times over," Underwood said.

Lopez’s daughter also testified.  She said she was the one who broke the news to her father that Jaime was not who Jennifer portrayed him as. 

"He was devastated," she said.

During the trial, Lopez took the stand in his own defense and claimed he was misled to believe Jamie was physically and sexually abusing his wife.

Lopez is an Army veteran with special forces training. He said at the time he believed he was on a rescue mission to save Jennifer from Jamie’s abuse.

"I shot his chest. He started to turn, and then I continued to put in his side," he told jurors. "At the time, I was thinking I was a noble soldier that did my job. I did what I was trained to do. I protected people. I kept them from a monster."

But Jamie was not the bad guy Lopez believed him to be.

And prosecutors called it absurd to suggest that emails and text messages could provide justification for what Lopez did.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you're going to choose to kill a man, if you're going to end his life, if you're going to choose the time and the place where you end his life like Darrin did, then you better have a damn good reason," Prosecutor Brandi Mitchell said during closing arguments.

Lopez’s legal team speculated that the 62 number might have been a compromise between those who wanted a life sentence and perhaps believed Lopez knew more than he claimed and those who wanted a more lenient sentence.

"At first, we had some hopes because they were hung that it was going to be a lower sentence. But obviously they were hung but on the higher level," said defense attorney Juan Sanchez. "It’s tough on us when we put our hearts into these cases. We believe in our clients and then a result like this happens."

The defense team plans to appeal.

Prosecutors did not talk with reporters after the sentencing.