The Dallas County courthouse has had quite the year, with several court cases ranging from capital murder to death by negligence garnering considerable public attention in 2023.
Here is a recap of some of the more memorable proceedings from 2023.
February
Father of Teen Triple Murder Suspect
In February, a four-day trial was held for Richard Acosta Jr., after which the jury found him guilty of murder in connection to the 2021 fatal shooting of three teens at a Garland convenience store.
As extensively covered by The Dallas Express, Acosta’s 14-year-old son Abel was identified by police as the suspected shooter. He is still at large, leaving the victims’ families reeling with not only the loss of their loved ones but also the absence of justice.
The prosecution accused Acosta of helping his son plan and carry out the murder of two of the teens over a reportedly missing necklace by ambushing them at a Texaco. The ensuing gunfire struck two bystanders, one of them dying from his injuries. Prosecutors also claimed that Acosta orchestrated his son’s evasion of arrest by enlisting the help of family members.
During his trial, Acosta claimed that he had no idea about his son’s role in the shooting until he had already surrendered to the police.
Ultimately, jurors sided with the prosecution, and a judge later handed Acosta a life sentence.
April
Old East Dallas Crane Collapse
In April, a negligence case surrounding the death of 29-year-old Kiersten Smith in 2019 took center stage at the Dallas County courthouse. Smith had been killed after a crane operated by Bigge Crane and Rigging collapsed into her Old East Dallas apartment building, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
Over the course of nearly three weeks, jurors heard from Smith’s parents, Michele Williams and James Kirkwood, Bigge Crane, and Greystar, the company that had leased the crane to work on its unfinished apartment complex across the street from Smith’s home.
The jury found Greystar guilty of negligence and ordered it to pay Smith’s estate $500 million. Her mother was also awarded $50 million for loss of companionship, $140 million for mental anguish, $50,012,006 for future mental anguish, and another $100 million. Meanwhile, her father was awarded $3 million for loss of companionship, $7 million for mental anguish, $4 million for future mental anguish, and an additional $6 million.
September
Wrongful Death in Police Custody
The 2016 death of 32-year-old Tony Timpa while having a mental episode in police custody was the subject of a complex federal civil court case in Dallas County in September. He had called 911 to report that he needed assistance since he was off his schizophrenia medication and had taken cocaine.
Four Dallas police officers responded and restrained Timpa with handcuffs and a zip tie around his ankles. One of them, Dustin Dillard, allegedly used his knee to pin Timpa face-down for a total of 14 minutes. Timpa died of cardiac arrest shortly thereafter.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, the Timpa family’s wrongful death claim hinged on jurors’ understanding of the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects law enforcement from liability when lawfully performing their duties.
After hearing testimony over the course of one week, jurors awarded Timpa’s 15-year-old son Kolton $1 million in damages despite his family having asked for $100 million. Two jurors later claimed to regret not awarding money to Timpa’s estate.
November
Methodist Hospital Shooter
The trial of Nestor Hernandez, 31, on charges of capital murder in November revolved primarily around whether he should be handed a lesser charge of murder.
As covered in The Dallas Express, Hernandez shot and killed two healthcare workers at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on October 22, 2022. A parolee for an aggravated robbery conviction, he had been allowed to visit his newborn son in the maternity ward that day. Despite the joy of the occasion, Hernandez became enraged and accused his girlfriend of cheating on him.
As jurors heard Selena Villatoro testify during the trial, Hernandez pulled out a weapon and began hitting her with it. Jacqueline Pokuaa, a social worker, tried to intervene, and Hernandez shot her. He claimed he had done so accidentally out of sheer panic.
Yet the prosecutors painted a different portrait of the event, highlighting eyewitness testimony that described how Hernandez fatally shot nurse Katie Flowers moments later in the hallway “with a smirk on his face.”
After barely two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict for capital murder.
Although this shooting took place in the city of Dallas, it does not count towards the City’s crime statistics for the year because the hospital has its own police force. As The Dallas Express has reported, crime in Dallas proper continues to rise as the Dallas Police Department grapples with a staffing shortage. While a force of approximately 4,000 has been suggested to adequately ensure public safety in the city, DPD has only about 3,000 officers.
December
Tourist Killed by Jealous Lover
Lisa Dykes was one of three individuals charged with murder in the stabbing death of a Seattle woman named Marisela Botello-Valadez in October 2020. The 23-year-old victim was last seen alive leaving a club in Deep Ellum with Charles Beltran, who had a sexual relationship with Dykes. They lived together with her wife, Nina Marano, in Mesquite.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, Botello-Valadez had been in town visiting a friend but missed her flight home. She was found stabbed to death in a rural area of southern Dallas County in March 2021.
Beltran, Dykes, and Marano were identified as persons of interest, yet the latter two fled the country and had to be extradited from Cambodia. Ultimately, District Attorney John Creuzot’s office dropped murder charges against Marano and Beltran, though both will still stand trial for allegedly tampering with Botello’s body.
During Dykes’ December trial, Beltran testified that she had murdered Botello at their Mesquite home in a jealous rage and that Marano later helped her conceal it by dumping the body miles away. Although the defense tried to poke holes in Beltran’s account and the forensic evidence pointing to Dykes, the jury found Dykes guilty of murder and evidence tampering after a very short deliberation.
Dykes was sentenced to life in prison as well as a 20-year sentence to be fulfilled concurrently.
