North Texas man found guilty of murder of romantic rival – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Jorge Esparza, the man accused of stalking and killing his romantic rival, was found guilty Wednesday morning after a reset murder trial in Dallas County.

Esparza pleaded not guilty in August 2020 to the shooting death of Ricardo Medina-Madriz.

The first day of testimony began with jurors hearing from the woman at the center of the case.

This is a retrial of the case. Back in April, when the trial began, the judge recused herself from Esparza's proceedings after comments she made about the case during court recess.

Their comments were made during the live broadcast of the trial on YouTube.

On Tuesday morning, Denise, the woman with whom Esparza was in love, spoke about her intimate and non-exclusive relationship with the defendant. Denise had just returned home from a date with Medina-Madriz on August 9, 2020.

Medina-Madriz, a registered nurse and graduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington, was shot near Denise's South Dallas home on Jeffries Street.

At about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of murder.

The penalty phase began shortly after the verdict was announced and is ongoing.