The Justice Journal: Vol. 55 (English)

The Justice Journal: Vol. 55

A look at cases recently prosecuted by the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney's Office.

State vs. Averil Cardwell

Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child under 14

Lead: Ann Duffy

2nd Chair: Kathryn Suggs

DA Investigators: Lorraine Resendez & Barry Maxwell

DA Victim Advocate: Yvonne Macias

Investigating Agency: Irving Police Department

The defendant was convicted of continuously sexually abusing multiple children.

GUILTY and sentenced to LIFE in prison.

State vs. Jordan Owens

Capital Murder

Aggravated Assault of a Police Officer x 7

Lead: Loren Collins

2nd Chair: Krystal Biggins

DA Investigator: Juan Carranza

Investigating Agency: Dallas Police Department

In October 2023, Mr. Owens and several co-defendants devised a plan to invade a North Dallas man’s apartment and rob him. Two of the defendants were known to the victim and were able to gain entry by deception. The two entered the apartment and then let Mr. Owens and another man enter behind them.  Once inside, Mr. Owens pointed a gun at the victim while the others robbed him. During the robbery, the victim attempted to defend himself and Mr. Owens shot and killed him. All the suspects fled the location and then split the proceeds from the robbery.

Dallas Police painstakingly developed suspect information by piecing together apartment surveillance videos and nearby business videos.  DPD Intelligence Detectives were able to locate video of Mr. Owens inside a vehicle entering the complex before the murder; then, Mr. Owens was linked to the same vehicle leaving the area after the murder. Additionally, cell phone records showed Mr. Owens and a co-defendant traveling to the murder scene before the murder and then leaving after the murder.  Social media records also tied several of the defendants together and helped further establish suspect identities, specifically Mr. Owens’s identity. 

In early November 2023, a DPD homicide detective obtained an arrest warrant for capital murder for Jordan Owens.

After the warrant was obtained, the United States Marshal’s Service North Texas Task Force was assigned the case of locating and safely arresting Jordan Owens.  Detectives within that unit used social media and other records to locate Mr. Owens hiding in an apartment complex in Dallas. 

Just before dawn on November 16, 2023, Task Force Officers knocked and announced their presence outside the apartment where Mr. Owens was hiding. After knocking for several minutes, the seven officers began forcing the door open. As the door opened Mr. Owens, hiding behind the door, fired a .357 Glock handgun that was illegally modified to shoot fully automatic rounds through a mechanism commonly known as a Glock switch. The bullets went through the walls and the doors of the apartment. One bullet struck an officer in the leg, and several other officers were nearly hit with bullets. The officers returned fire and struck Mr. Owens multiple times. He was taken into custody and rushed to the hospital. 

In total, Mr. Owens fired the fully automatic weapon 21 times within a few seconds.  

GUILTY plea and sentenced to LIFE in prison for murder and 50 years in prison for each aggravated assault case.

State vs. Tevin Wilson

Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon

Unlawful Possession of a Firearm

Lead: Keena Miller

2nd Chair: Gabriella Sanchez

DA Investigator: Scott Sayers

Investigating Agency: Dallas Police Department 

The defendant was convicted of Aggravated Burglary on three separate occasions in Memphis, Tennessee, making him a felon and exposing him to a punishment range of 25-99 years or life in prison if convicted. Shortly after his release from the Tennessee Department of Corrections, he came to Texas, with two (2) firearms, and went on a crime spree.  

On or about May 26, 2023, the defendant was captured on video breaking into a home, while armed with a firearm. Following the burglary of the home, he shot a homeless man who was simply walking through a park. Thankfully, the man lived. After shooting the homeless man in the park, the defendant returned to the house where he committed the burglary and stole a car. He then took the police on a high-speed chase in the vehicle and ultimately ran from the scene.

A couple of weeks later, the defendant stole another car and also shot and killed a man on South Blvd. However, upon further investigation, the murder was dismissed. While still driving the second stolen car, the defendant fled from Texas to Denver, Colorado, where he was subsequently arrested.

Tevin’s testimony during trial was not convincing and the jury swiftly found him guilty.

GUILTY and sentenced to  25 years on the unlawful possession of a firearm charge and to 35 years on the charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge.

State vs. Jose Cobos

Murder

Lead: Abigail Peak

2nd Chair: Doug Millican

DA Investigator: Christopher Frosch

Investigating Agency: Dallas Police Department

The defendant and victim were strangers. The victim has moved into an apartment complex with her new boyfriend after leaving a domestic violence relationship. On the night of the murder, the victim had just returned to the apartment complex with her new boyfriend after a date. The defendant was supposed to meet his ex-girlfriend at the complex the same night, but he mistook the victim as his ex-girlfriend. The defendant began shooting into the victim’s truck. The victim’s boyfriend drove away, and the defendant chased them while continuing to shoot. At first, detectives believed the victim’s ex-boyfriend had killed her due to recent threats he had made, but he was determined to be in another city at the time of the shooting.

The defendant’s ex-girlfriend turned the defendant in. The defense argued that the defendant was at a party at the time of the shooting and the victim’s ex-boyfriend killed her. The jury rejected the defense due to surveillance video of the defendant’s truck, the defendant’s cell phone location, and the discovery of the murder weapon at the defendant’s house.

GUILTY and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

State vs. Jose Lopez Nunez

Collision Involving Serious Bodily Injury

Lead: Gabriela Sanchez

2nd Chair: Nicole Heydari

DA Investigator: John Davison

DA Paralegal: Mildred Gibbs

Investigating Agency: Dallas Police Department

The defendant collided with a vehicle containing three victims in the backseat. The defendant ran from the scene with an 8.5-month pregnant wife and toddler. Eyewitness accounts and surveillance video placed the defendant at the scene along with his disabled vehicle. The jury denied the defendant’s request for probation with no prior criminal convictions, and he was sentenced to prison for each count.

GUILTY and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

State vs. Edwin Martinez-Acevedo

Indecency With a Child Exposes

Lead: Ward Weber

2nd Chair: Soni Lewis

DA Investigator: Howard Sparks

DA Victim Advocate: Leslie Gutierrez

Investigating Agency: Irving Police Department

The defendant was exposing himself while parked down the street and facing a local middle school with binoculars in the front seat. Two students on their walk to school were exposed to the defendant’s genitals and immediately called their mom who told them to call 911. The students were able to take a picture of the defendant’s car with his unique license plate. Irving Police arrived within minutes and located the car. The defendant was unable to provide a valid reason for being at the school and was taken into custody.

GUILTY and sentenced to two years in prison.

State vs. Kundin Nadew

Collision Involving Pedestrian

Lead: Andrew James

2nd Chair: Kristin Treager

DA Investigator: Ron Cathcart

DA Paralegal: Maria Cantrell

Investigating Agency: Dallas Police Department

On Sunday, August 6, 2023, at 5:37 pm, Lisa Jordan was standing at the northwest corner of Commerce and Akard streets in downtown Dallas, waiting for the light to change so she could cross the street heading east. She had just left work at the Adolphus Spa and was heading to her car in a nearby parking garage. The defendant – a taxi driver – had just dropped off a fare at the Adolphus hotel and pulled up to the red light as he was heading east on Commerce Street, waiting to turn left to head north on Akard.

For 9 seconds, Lisa Jordan and the defendant were both stopped waiting for the lights to change. Just after the traffic light turned green, and the pedestrian light changed to allow pedestrians to cross, Lisa Jordan looked back to her right and saw that the defendant’s white Ford Explorer wasn’t moving yet, so she started walking out into the crosswalk. As she walked out into the crosswalk, the defendant began to drive into the crosswalk and as Lisa was halfway across, the defendant struck her from behind with the middle of the vehicle, running over and killing her. The defendant briefly drove the right side of his vehicle onto the curb and proceeded heading north on Akard Street, running the red light at Akard and Main Street. He then gently crashed into a building and was detained by an off-duty Waco PD Sgt. who was in town for the Child Abuse Conference. 

The defendant wasn’t intoxicated, wasn’t suffering from any medical issues or conditions, and was checked out and cleared by EMS and ER staff. The defendant also claimed that the woman came out in front of him and his brakes didn’t work. When he was arrested by Dallas Police, he said his cell phone was still in the car, however, it wasn’t located in the cell phone holder he had attached to his windshield.  The impact with Mrs. Jordan did not cause an event to be recorded on the Explorer’s Electronic Data Recorder (EDR); however, the impact with the building did – which occurred more than 5 seconds after the impact with Mrs. Jordan. The EDR data showed that neither the gas nor the brake had been pressed during the last 5 seconds before the gentle crash into the building, and the defendant was only steering the vehicle. DA Office Investigator Cathcart was able to confirm that the brakes still worked just fine – even with the power being off to the Explorer – less than a week before the case was set to start trial when we inspected the vehicle at the DPD impound lot with the defense attorney.  The defendant had some older misdemeanor criminal history including an arrest in 1992 in Atlanta for DUI and another in 2012 in Oregon. 

GUILTY plea and sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine and a deadly weapon finding.