DALLAS —
Updated at 2:24 p.m. with Dallas County judge's ruling.
A woman accused of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend should be allowed to wear makeup in court, her defense attorney says.
Brenda Delgado, 36, is charged with capital murder in the September 2015 slaying of 35-year-old Kendra Hatcher. Delgado allegedly paid Kristopher Love to rob and shoot Hatcher. Love was sentenced to death in October.
In a motion for “gender neutrality” filed this week, defense attorney George Milner writes that men are allowed to shower, shave and get a haircut before trial but women are not allowed to wear makeup or do up their hair.
State District Judge Tracy Holmes granted Milner's request after a hearing Thursday.
"I will be happy to do so," Holmes said.
Milner points out in the motion that women in Dallas County custody are not permitted to wear makeup in court but men are allowed to shave and get haircuts before appearing in the courtroom.
Holmes said she will tell jailers that Delgado is allowed to wear makeup during her trial. Delgado's family must provide her with the makeup.
Love, Delgado's co-defendant, “was permitted to look completely presentable and respectful to the jury determining his case," Milner wrote in the motion.
Love appeared in court during his trial with his hair pulled back and was wearing glasses.
Male inmates are allowed to get a haircut before trial “so that they may look appropriate,” Milner writes.
Defendants on trial, even if they are in jail, typically appear in court wearing civilian clothing and not their jail-issued jumpsuits.
"Along with the right to dress in normal clothing at trial, comes with it the right that it 'appear' that the criminally accused is not in custody," Milner writes in the motion.
The defense attorney says the jury might believe a woman not wearing makeup or without her hair done either rolled out of bed and didn't care about how she appears in court or that she is in jail "and had no choice but to appear this way."
Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Friday. The trial is set for June.
Authorities allege Delgado asked three other people to hurt or kill Hatcher before she turned to Love, court records show.
Hatcher was dating Delgado's ex-boyfriend, Ricardo Paniagua, for about six months before she was gunned down in the parking garage of her Uptown apartment.
Love and getaway driver Crystal Cortes waited in a Jeep outside of Hatcher's apartment the day of the killing. Cortes testified during Love's trial that Delgado paid her to act as the getaway driver.
Cortes' testimony revealed she was more involved in the planning and stalking of Hatcher than she initially told investigators. She testified in exchange for a reduced charge of murder.
Though Delgado is charged with capital murder, she is not eligible for the death penalty because she extradited from Mexico. Delgado fled the country after Hatcher's killing.
She has been in custody at the Dallas County jail since 2016.
WFAA reporter Joe Sherwood contributed to this report.
