The capital murder trial of Brenda Delgado, the 36-year-old woman accused of orchestrating the murder-for-hire plot that killed a 35-year-old Dallas dentist Dr. Kendra Hatcher in September 2015, entered its third day Wednesday.
In court Wednesday morning prosecutors began tying up their case against Delgado, presenting evidence and testimony from tech experts who said corroborating information was found on the mobile phones of all three suspects (Delgado, the triggerman and getaway driver) before, during and after the murder.
Delgado faces life in prison if convicted. She is not eligible for the death penalty due to an extradition agreement with Mexico, where she was found hiding out after Hatcher was killed in an Uptown parking garage Sept. 2, 2015.
NBC 5 NewsOn Tuesday, jurors heard from Crystal Cortes, the accused getaway driver. Cortes, now 27, pleaded guilty in October to a lesser murder charge and agreed to testify against convicted triggerman Kristopher Love and Delgado, in exchange for a 35-year sentence.
"I got paid to drive Kristopher Love to commit the murder of Kendra Hatcher," testified Cortes.
Cortes said, "Yes," when asked if she was guilty of capital murder; adding that Kristopher Love and Brenda Delgado are too.
"[Delgado] wanted to get rid of Kendra Hatcher," Cortes said. "Because she was envious of her."
Cortes said Delgado wanted her ex-boyfriend Ricardo Paniagua back.
She also said Delgado approached her in 2015 about helping her find someone to kill Hatcher.
There were several options considered, she said.
"One was to inject [Hatcher] with heroine or a sedative or to kill her with a gun," she said. "Everyone came to the conclusion that shooting her would be the fastest way to do it."
Cortes testified she and Delgado borrowed Delgado's friend's vehicle.
"I feel like I did a mistake by lending my car," said Jose Ortiz, on the stand.
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Ortiz testified he loaned Delgado, a friend, his Jeep Cherokee the day of the murder.
He then saw it on the news the following day and confronted Delgado about it.
She initially denied it was his Jeep, he testified. Then she told him Cortes had driven it to buy drugs and something must have happened.
Ortiz said Delgado then told him not to tell his family or police and said: "It's best for you to just hide and paint it a different color. If you want I'll help you pay for that paint job."
Delgado's defense attorney George Milner spent about an hour grilling Cortes about the many lies she admitted to have made to police for years about her involvement in the crime.
"As a mother, you didn't care one bit about taking somebody else's child from them, did you?" Milner asked.
"I didn't think about it at the time," responded Cortes.
Opening statements began Monday morning. Emotions quickly ran high when Bonnie Jameson, Hatcher's mother, took the stand. Through tears, Jameson described her devastation upon learning of her daughter's death. It left several jurors wiping away tears.
Prosecutors allege Delgado hired a hit man, Kristopher Love, to rob and kill Hatcher in the parking lot of her Dallas apartment. Prosecutors described Delgado as being the jealous ex-girlfriend of Hatcher's boyfriend, Ricardo Paniagua.
During the first day of the trial, Jameson, along with the paramedic and Dallas police officer that initially responded to the scene of the murder, took the stand. Jurors watched body camera footage from Dallas Police Officer Michael Walsh.
Below is the original arrest warrant for Cortes.
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