A Mesquite man will spend decades behind bars for killing his romantic rival who dropped off his lover after a first date.
A Dallas County judge handed Jorge Esparza, 26, a life term in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting death of University of Texas at Arlington nursing student Ricardo Medina-Madriz. Esparza was found guilty and convicted of murder during a trial reset that stemmed from the initial trial judge recusing herself after she made disparaging comments about the defendant while the case was ongoing.
Dallas County Judge Nancy Mulder had been caught on a hot mic without the presence of the jury during a live stream, telling an unidentified court staff that Esparza had killed the victim just to show a woman he was a man.
“I deeply regret the comments I made during what I believed was a private conversation with court staff in an empty courtroom,” said Mulder, according to ABA.
On Aug. 9, 2020, the 27-year-old Medina-Madriz dropped off a woman identified as Denise, who was at the center of the love triangle at her home on Jeffries Street in South Dallas after their first date. Minutes later, the victim was murdered.
According to prosecutors, Esparza had confessed to the shooting during his interrogation and after Denise had accused the defendant of stalking her. She also provided alarming messages Esparza had sent her, which included a character on Netflix who stalked and killed people.
In addition, other women who had dated Esparza in the past testified of the defendant’s history of stalking and harassing them. Nevertheless, Esparza’s defense lawyer, Reynie Tinajero, told the jury to take the confession submitted by prosecutors with a grain of salt, implying the testimony was false.
“The evidence is going to show you that no direct evidence is in this trial about Mr. Esparza committing this murder and the circumstantial evidence is absolutely weak. Listen to the things, whether they’re repeated over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again until somebody just says,” said Tinajero, reported NBC DFW.
The jury disagreed! Esparza will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 30 years in prison.
Medina-Madriz was a registered nurse in the process of obtaining a master's degree.
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