A decorated U.S. Army veteran is calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to shorten his 62-year prison sentence for murdering his high school sweetheart’s husband.
Darrin Lopez, 51, was convicted in July of the shooting death of 49-year-old Jamie Faith.
Lopez, divorced and lonely during the pandemic on his farm outside Nashville, connected with his former high school girlfriend, Jennifer, on LinkedIn.
They began communicating regularly and Lopez said he fell in love with her again.
Jennifer, a speech therapist, and her husband, an IT director at American Airlines, had been together for 15 years and had a teenage daughter.
Lopez insists he never had any intention of breaking them up, but Jennifer “confessed” that her husband was violent and extremely abusive and sent Lopez emails about her hurts.
It later emerged that she had orchestrated them – lies that Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Calvert of the Northern District of Texas called “some of the most sadistic things imaginable.”
Darrin Lopez, 51, was sentenced to 62 years in prison for shooting Jamie Faith in October 2020. He is seeking a reduction in his sentence, insisting he believed he acted to save Jennifer Faith’s life
Jennifer and Jamie Faith were married for 15 years and had a teenage daughter. She was a speech therapist and he worked in IT for American Airlines
Lopez was convinced by Jennifer to drive to her Dallas home and shoot 49-year-old Jamie on October 9, 2020, while he and Jennifer were walking their dog.
The camera footage from the doorbell shows Jamie and Jennifer Faith leaving the house together for the last time.
From prison, Lopez told NBC Dateline that he thought he was acting to save Jennifer.
“Was it hard to pull the trigger?” asks host Josh Mankiewicz.
Lopez, who retired from the Army after six tours in Iraq, won a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star and suffered a traumatic brain injury, replied, “Well.” I mean, it wasn’t like a military deployment.
“But I had the same mindset.
“I did what I had to do to protect Jennifer.”
Emails between Jennifer Faith and Lopez obtained by NBC News revealed that Lopez wanted to report Jennifer’s allegations of abuse to Jamie’s employer, American Airlines.
He also tried to get her to go to the police.
However, she refused, saying she didn’t want her daughter to lose her father and that reporting it would make the abuse worse.
“She also told me that she would say nothing was happening,” Lopez said.
“She would deny everything to the police.”
Jennifer Faith and Darrin Lopez are pictured at their high school prom
Jennifer Faith is questioned by Dallas police
The home of the couple where James Faith was shot on October 9, 2020
The doorbell camera footage shows Jamie and Jennifer leaving their home with their dog
Shortly after leaving the house, Jamie Faith was shot by Lopez
Lopez said Jennifer told him that Jamie found out about their conversations via email and phone and he flew into a jealous, violent rage.
Lopez received text messages apparently from Jamie in which he threatened to sexually assault his wife and even drown her.
The text messages caused him to drive 10 hours from Nashville to Dallas.
“If I didn’t do something, she was going to die,” Lopez said.
“I made that commitment right there.”
Lopez fired three bullets into Jamie’s head and then tried to make it look like a robbery by taking Jamie’s wedding ring, beating Jennifer and tying her hands.
Lopez then fled the scene in his pickup truck and drove back home.
Jennifer, meanwhile, begged for answers to the question of who killed her husband, insisting the gunman was approaching from behind and she had no idea.
Lopez was arrested in January 2021, Jennifer Faith a month later.
Jennifer Faith is seen in her mugshot when she was arrested in February 2021
Lopez’s attorney, Juan Sanchez, said it took him six months to convince Lopez that Jennifer had made up the allegations.
Lopez said he was devastated when he found out about her lies.
“When I was arrested, I went to prison because I truly believed that I had saved Jennifer and her daughter,” he told Dateline.
“The thought that she could use me in this way never occurred to me. I think she loved me.’
Lopez apologized to her teenage daughter and said he could never forgive himself for killing Jamie.
But he worked with prosecutors to “put her away,” he said.
In February 2022, Jennifer Faith pleaded guilty and was later sentenced to life in prison.
Lopez believes his work assisting prosecutors in their conviction was not adequately understood at sentencing.
And he said he was used as her tool to get rid of her husband.
“I became their weapon,” he said. ‘I understand that.
“The real criminal is in prison for life. ‘I helped put them there.’