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Hitman Slays Dentist After Allegedly Being Hired By Jealous Ex-Girlfriend
Prosecutors think Brenda Delgado hired Kristopher Love to kill Kendra Hatcher, who was dating Delgado's ex.
A Dallas County jury has found a 34-year-old man guilty of capital murder in the 2015 shooting death of a pediatric dentist.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before finding Kristopher Love guilty Thursday in the death of 35-year-old Kendra Hatcher (pictured above at left).
Prosecutors say Love was hired to kill Hatcher, who was shot in the head at her Dallas apartment complex in September 2015. Hatcher's death was allegedly orchestrated by Brenda Delgado, 36, the former girlfriend of the man Hatcher was dating at the time. She was jealous of their relationship, prosecutors allege, according to Dallas News.
Love’s defense tried to argue that the shooting was merely a robbery, not a hired kill, Dallas News reports.
"Folks, it's not a robbery," Dallas County prosecutor Kevin Brooks said in court Thursday before the verdict, according to the Dallas News report. "This is an execution, and that's the man who pulled the trigger."
Hatcher's mother, Bonnie Jamseon, cried and hugged a homicide detective after the verdict was read, Dallas News reports.
Delgado is charged with capital murder and awaits trial. She was referenced throughout the trial as the mastermind behind the murder, but the prosecution urged jurors not to focus on her too much.
"You don't need to concern yourself with the doings of Brenda Delgado," Brooks told the jurors, according to the Dallas News report. "Brenda will have her day in court." Delgado ran away to Mexico after the murder, but she was eventually extradited. Her trial date has not yet been set.
A third person, the suspected getaway driver, Crystal Cortes, is also awaiting a court date. Love had claimed that Cortes was the shooter and that he only robbed Hatcher, but Cortes argues differently, saying she was paid $500 to simply drive the car and Love was the hired hitman. Originally charged with capital murder, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of murder last week, according to the Dallas News report. The reduced charge was given to her in exchange for her testimony against both Love and Delgado. She is expected to only serve 35 years, according to an NBC affiliate in Dallas Fort-Worth.
The punishment phase of Love's trial is scheduled to begin Monday, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Love.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Photos: Facebook, Dallas County Jail]
