DALLAS -- The capital murder trial of Kristopher Love is underway in Dallas. Love is accused of being the hitman in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a popular dentist.
Prosecutors put the victim’s pictures up in the courtroom for the jury to see. The first witness they called to the stand was Dr. Kendra Hatcher’s mother. She recalled the moment she learned her daughter had been murdered.
“I said, 'No, no, not Kendra' and they said she was shot. I’m like, 'What do you mean she is shot?' She didn’t make it,” said Bonnie Jameson.
Dr. Hatcher was a pediatric dentist who had fallen in love with another doctor, a dermatologist named Dr. Ricardo Paniagua. They had dated about six months.
“The relationship progressed quickly. We started a wedding fund,” said Paniagua.
Prosecutors say what Dr. Hatcher didn’t know was that Dr. Panigua’s ex-girlfriend, Brenda Delgado, wanted him back and was willing to kill for him.
"Evidence will show Brenda could not let go, she followed him and stalked him,” said Prosecutor Kevin Brooks.
Prosecutors say she plotted Dr. Hatcher’s murder. They claim Delgado tried to hire several people, including her roommate to kill her.
“She said she would buy me a car and give me $12,000," said Jennifer Escobar.
No one would do it until they say she met a woman named Crystal Cortes, who connected Delgado to this man, Kristopher Love.
"Kristopher Love says yes for drugs and money and starts surveillance,” said Brooks.
Prosecutors say the trio stalked Dr. Hatcher for two weeks and then on Sept. 2, 2015, Love and Cortes drove to the victim’s apartment in Uptown. They got video of them in the getaway car.
Prosecutors say Love walked to Dr. Hatcher’s car as she pulled into the garage and shot her in the back of the head. Prosecutors say they found the gun used to kill Dr. Hatcher in Love’s car and he dropped the gun clip at the scene of the crime. They matched them.
Crystal Cortes, who drove Love to Dr. Hatcher’s apartment, is expected to testify against him possibly as early as Tuesday morning.
Delgado was arrested in 2016 after fleeing to Mexico.