Trial continues for man accused in Dallas murder-for-hire plot

DALLAS - Testimony continued on the second day of a trial for a man accused of killing the husband of his high school sweetheart in a murder-for-hire plot.

Darrin Lopez is on trial for the murder of American Airlines employee Jamie "James" Faith nearly three years ago.

Prosecutors said Lopez drove to North Texas from Tennessee and ambushed James while he was walking his dog with his wife, Jennifer, in front of their Oak Cliff home. 

"Before James can get down not even a block, he’s in front of their next-door neighbor's house and he is ambushed by Darrin Lopez, completely ambushed.  He is shot seven times and left for dead on that street," said Brandi Mitchell, a prosecutor.

But it all was part of a murder-for-hire plot initiated by Jennifer. She and Lopez were high school sweethearts and were having an affair.

On the second day of the trial, the jury spent a majority of the time hearing the content of emails between Jennifer and Lopez.

Prosecutors detailed salacious, and at times, misleading emails between Jennifer and Lopez, the man who they said she convinced to kill her husband.

Lopez’s defense team sought to portray him as a victim of manipulation.

"I’m glad you have Jamie in your life…what you have is special I don’t want to break that up. I love you," one of the emails read.

What went from a rekindled friendship seven months before the murder quickly turned into a fake story about physical and sexual abuse by Jennifer’s husband. 

That came after Jennifer told Lopez her husband found out about their communication. 

Prosecutors said Jennifer, who is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to her role in the plot, even created a fake email account to message Lopez, pretending she was her husband.

"Man-to-man, I am asking you to stay away from my family," the email read.

Prosecutors said the emails became angry and explicit, with graphic images purporting to show sexual and physical abuse towards Jennifer.

Those accounts were deleted about a month before the murder.

Prosecutors said Lopez sent multiple emails threatening to call police, but Dallas PD Det. Eric Barnes testified that police were never called. 

The jury also heard testimony from the medical examiner, who explained the seven gunshots to James. Three were to the side of the head near, his ear.

Defense attorneys described Jennifer as the manipulator in the plot. They claim she lied to Lopez, telling him she had been abused by her husband.

"From the very beginning, she talks to Darrin and deceives him to believe Jamie was abusing her sexually and physically, that he is subjecting her to gang rapes," said Juan Sanchez, a defense attorney.

They questioned Det. Barnes about some of the emails Lopez received.

[ATTORNEY: "One could look at these types of emails as a provocation, don’t you think?"]

"It’s just your perspective, I guess. it could be provocation or it could be an entertaining conversation," he responded.

Lopez’s attorneys suggested he was vulnerable, due to a traumatic brain injury sustained while serving in the military.

But Barnes pushed back at the implication Lopez didn’t make a choice.

[ATTORNEY: "But for her, this might have never happened?"]

"There was plenty of points, there was 650 miles between where the murder took place and where Darrin first got in his vehicle, and approximately 10 hours," Barnes said. "That’s plenty enough time for him to call the police."

The trial resumes Thursday morning.