Darrin Lopez in Dallas court
During day two of the Darrin Lopez murder trial the prosecution showed how a social media message between high school sweethearts led to a bloody homicide on a quiet Oak Cliff street eight months later.
(Read about day one and the case background)
On March 17, 2020, Tennessee resident Darrin Lopez set up a LinkedIn profile, his first foray into social media. Then he sent a private message to his high school girlfriend, Oak Cliff resident Jennifer Faith. To prove he was the same guy she dated 30 years ago, he called her “Angel” and signed off with “as you wish” — a nickname and movie reference from their past romance, which he would go on to use in thousands of messages over the ensuing months.
They exchanged email addresses, and so began the epistolary documentation of a remote relationship that escalated to a violent murder.
Just eight months after that first message, Darrin Lopez drove 650 miles to Oak Cliff so he could shoot Jennifer’s husband, James Faith.
James Faith is remembered by loved ones as funny, loving, intelligent, a lover of food, travel and Green Bay Packers.
Lopez has admitted to shooting James, and much of this morning was spent showing forensic proof of that, but the question is, just how responsible is he for his actions? Might a lesser crime, like manslaughter, be more applicable?
Jennifer has already admitted to manipulating Lopez into killing Jame, for which she is serving life in prison. The defense will argue that Lopez, a veteran with PTSD and head trauma, who believed Jennifer’s life was in danger, was not entirely culpable in the murder.
With Dallas homicide detective Eric Barnes on the stand, the prosecution examined tons of emails shared between Jennifer Faith and Darrin Lopez as well as text messages, calls and more.
Within days of first contact, Lopez — a father of five daughters who was separated from his wife Rebecca Lopez — began declaring his love for Jennifer Faith. The were in constant contact, sending hundreds of texts every day. Lopez said early on that he didn’t mind sharing her with her husband, because he seemed like a good guy. He told her he didn’t want the Faith’s adult daughter to think poorly of him, as a person who hurt her father or broke up the family.
The two planned a trip to Lopez’ home in Tennessee; they talked about a future together. Soon Jennifer told Lopez she’d confessed to her husband this emotional affair. She told Lopez that James was angry.
While she had initially presented James to Lopez as a loving, protecting father and husband, by April, she had convinced her distant paramour that her husband was abusing her in horrific ways, such as forcing her to have sex with multiple men and burning, beating and depriving her of air during sexual assaults. (All untrue, she later admitted. James Faith was by all accounts innocent and beloved).
The jury also saw evidence that Jennifer Faith created fake email accounts for James Faith and other family friends and acquaintances, from which she sent deceptive messages to Lopez.
Jurors will have to consider a tremendous volume of confusing, explicit and disturbing emails, texts, social media messages and images presented today.
Through many of those messages, Jennifer Faith spun a riveting, fantastical, pornographic and fictional story of abuse at the hands of James Faith.
Through a fake email and posing as a male friend, she introduced the idea to Lopez of shooting James. Lopez replied, with an LOL, that he would like do it himself.
Based on his own messages to Jennifer and what he thought to be James Faith, Darrin Lopez apparently believed Jennifer was being abused and that her life could be in danger.
In opening statements, the prosecutor promised to show that this superfluity of messages was all part of a fantasy that both parties were in on.
In a few instances email evidence could arguably support that idea. For example, Lopez and Jennifer engage in written erotic fantasies that include details of dominance, bondage and forced sex. Would a man engage in such games with a woman he loves and who he also believes has recently survived at least two gang rapes? That’s something the prosecution will ask jurors to consider.
Even if jurors don’t buy that Lopez was role playing, they could still convict him with murder. After all he did drive almost 10 hours and spend several more lying in wait right here in an Oak Cliff backyard before firing six bullets into a man. As Det. Barnes pointed out today, Lopez had plenty of time to consider other options.
Suspect vehicle (black truck) allegedly leaving Oak Cliff the morning of the murder
Before Detective Barnes spent (a borderline heroically composed) five hours pouring through, and in some cases reading aloud, explicit and humiliating messages, experts explained some of the forensic evidence collected.
The morning was devoted to testimony from a Dallas medical examiner and a DNA expert. Those testimonies, along with the detectives’, served to prove that Darrin Lopez was, without a doubt, the shooter.
Jurors heard in graphic detail from the ME how James Faith died — he would have perished almost instantly from three shots to his ear and head; three shots entered his torso collectively piercing liver, lung, heart, aorta, colon and almost every vital organ. One shot to his inner thigh was evidently a message from a killer who believed that his victim was violently sexually abusing a woman he loved. The ME also stated that James Faith, prior to his death, was a healthy 49-year old man.
Thursday’s portion of the trial is delayed until 10 a.m. We will continue to cover developments.
