DALLAS — A man has been found guilty of capital murder in the shooting death of a Mesquite police officer in December 2021.
On just the second day of the trial, a jury found Jamie Jaramillo guilty of murdering Richard Houston while the Mesquite officer was responding to a disturbance call outside an Albertson's grocery store.
Jaramillo was sentenced to life without parole.
The incident happened on Dec. 3 in the 1500 block of South Beltline Road. Houston responded around 1:40 p.m. to a disturbance involving four people who were in an argument.
On the first day of trial, Jaramillo’s daughter told the jury she went to the Albertsons because her mom wanted to see if he was having an affair. Court documents stated Jaramillo was in his truck with another woman.
“His wife and daughter have an app on their phone that follows his truck. When they saw him at Albertson’s, they decided to confront him,” said Jason Hermes, the prosecutor.
Houston went to talk to Jaramillo when he was getting ready to drive off. In body camera footage shown in court, Jaramillo is seen pulling out a gun and shooting Houston, then shooting himself in the head.
“Four shots are fired by the defendant. One of the shots hit Richard right here, below his left chest,” said Hermes.
In court, the prosecutor played the 911 call made by Jaramillo’s daughter.
In the video, you can hear Jaramillo’s daughter say sorry to Houston.
The defense attorney claimed Jaramillo had issues with his eyes and that he never saw Houston.
Officer Houston’s wife, Shelly, also testified on Tuesday. She told the jury how Houston was her high school sweetheart, and how they had been married for 20 years. They have three teenage children together.
Shelly went into the details of when she saw her husband in the emergency room.
In court, jurors also watched footage of the moment Houston was on the ground, lifeless. A fellow officer tried to do CPR on him. Nearly everyone in the entire courtroom was in tears.