Murder weapon brought into evidence in murder-for-hire trial of Dallas dentist

DALLAS - The murder weapon was brought into evidence in the murder-for-hire trial of a Dallas dentist.

Brenda Delgado is charged with capital murder for the death of pediatric dentist Kendra Hatcher in her Uptown Dallas apartment parking garage.

Prosecutors said Delgado hired hitman Kristopher Love to kill Hatcher because Hatcher was dating her ex-boyfriend, Ricky Paniagua.

On Wednesday, jurors were shown the gun used in the 2015 execution-style shooting, along with the police interview with the accused mastermind.

On Tuesday, Crystal Cortes — the convicted getaway driver — testified Delgado was the mastermind who’d been intimately involved in the murder plot.

The defense argued Cortes is a liar who can’t be trusted.

A day after her testimony, prosecutors tried to show her story adds up.

Delgado was questioned by Dallas police on Sept. 4, 2015, two days after the murder of Hatcher, who was dating Delgado’s ex-boyfriend.

“Crystal borrowed the vehicle to take me to the library,” Delgado said during the interview.

In the video, Delgado appears relaxed. Within the first few minutes, she compliments the detective.

But investigators say she lies repeatedly, shifting blame to former friend Cortes.

Cortes, who is already convicted of capital murder for her role as the getaway driver, received a lighter sentence in exchange for her testimony Tuesday against Delgado.

“In your mind, would you say it’s a big coincidence that your ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend ends up dead and your friend ends up driving the same parking lot that this happens at around the same time that it happens in a Jeep that you borrowed,” the investigator asked Delgado.

“Crystal borrowed the Jeep, she needed the car,” Delgado responded during the interview.

“He said you dropped his car off at his shop and that you borrowed a vehicle of his,” the investigator continued.

“No, it was not me, it was Crystal, the girl that took me,” Delgado replied.

Jurors also heard from investigators who testified that they poured over cell phone data that showed the locations for Delgado, Cortes and shooter Kristopher Love, and their communication.

Prosecutors tried to show the data supports Cortes’ testimony about the timeline of events leading up to the murder and right after it.

The information extracted from Delgago’s cell phone included a brief, shaky video, in which two women are heard talking about a silencer for a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson.

A gun, investigators testified, that was found by an ATF K-9 hidden in Kristopher Love’s car used just days before to murder Hatcher.

[PROSECUTOR]: "If Kendra Hatcher had her hands behind her head and was shot execution-style in the back of the head, coming out her chin, would your findings be consistent with that hypothetical situation?”

“Uh, yes it would,” David Spence, who analyzed forensic evidence, responded.

The state could rest by Thursday.

Delgado faces life in prison. It’s still unclear if she plans to testify on her own behalf.