Jennifer Lynne Faith, the Dallas woman who orchestrated her husband’s 2020 murder, will spend the rest of her life in federal prison, the Department of Justice announced on June 21.
U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle followed the prosecutors’ recommendation in handing out the sentence on Tuesday after Faith pled guilty to the murder-for-hire in February.
According to court documents, Faith faced charges of obstruction of justice and use of interstate commerce in the commission of murder-for-hire. Prosecutors dropped the obstruction charge and offered a recommendation of life imprisonment in exchange for the guilty plea.
The judge also ordered a fine of $250,000 and restitution to the family of Jamie Faith, totaling $6,500 for funeral expenses.
Faith pleaded guilty in February to hiring her boyfriend to travel to Dallas and kill her husband, Jamie Faith. Her boyfriend, Darrin Ruben Lopez, allegedly drove his black Nissan Titan from Tennessee to Texas and shot Jamie Faith seven times while the couple walked their dog in their Oak Cliff neighborhood, according to the Department of Justice.
Additionally, her indictment stated that Faith posed as her husband — using a fake Gmail account — to taunt Lopez with details of extreme abuse that never occurred.
Initially, Faith appeared distraught over the loss of her husband and gave several televised interviews where she pleaded with locals who might have information on her husband’s death.
“Somebody has got to know whose truck this is,” Faith told reporters in 2020. “It’s a black Nissan Titan extended cab. It had a Texas Rangers sticker in the back window. So it was very distinctive from that point.”
Despite Faith’s emotional pleas, court documents showed that shortly after that emotional interview, Faith texted Lopez saying, “I woke up in a little bit of a panic…. something is eating away at me telling me you need to take the sticker out of the back window the truck.”
Prosecutors also claimed that Faith was wiring Lopez money and buying him gifts. The Department of Justice reported that one month after the murder, Faith initiated a claim for approximately $629,000 in death benefits from Metropolitan Life Insurance. She also received money through a “Support Jennifer Faith” GoFundMe fundraiser launched shortly after her husband’s murder.
“Ms. Faith put on quite a performance in the wake of her husband’s murder. She poured out her sob story to reporters and law enforcement, then headed home to orchestrate her coverup,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham in a written statement. “But crocodile tears didn’t stop the feds. We were committed to getting justice for Jamie, and with the judge’s imposition of a life sentence this afternoon, we’re one step closer.”
Before passing a sentence on the defendant, Judge Boyle described Jennifer Lynne Faith as “pure evil.”
According to court records, Lopez faces a state charge of murder and a federal gun crime charge. Lopez entered a plea of not guilty on both counts, but a trial date has not been set.