Sudden Passion: The Anatomy of a Murder

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On November 17, 2015, a call came in to a Dallas-area 911 call center that led first responders to a non-descript strip shopping center with nothing on the door other than the address number. Smoke was emanating from the building, and caused other tenants to call in an emergency. After a quick search of the scene, firefighters located a locked office suite, which they swiftly entered due to the emergency situation. Inside, they found the dead body of a bludgeoned to death 60-year-old white male, who had been set afire in a very hasty attempt to destroy evidence. Initially mystified, they transported the corpse to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office. With local news coverage of the discovery of the death, and making a tenuous link to Craigslist ads for models, witnesses came forward. An arrest was quickly made of an African-American male from a city nearly 50 miles away. Upon being taken into custody, the suspect quickly confessed to the murder. His reasons for being there plunged the case into numerous unexpected - Ads placed for actors to appear in adult films. - Those who responded to the ads were subjected to what seemed like a doctor’s physical exam. Instead, it was a gay-fetish adult video being posted to the Internet without their knowledge. - The “doctor” was in fact a very successful restaurateur in Dallas, who did gay adult videos as a hobby. He was a recluse, with only a handful of people knowing that he was a gay pornographer. - The accused was lured to the scene of the crime on not only the date of the murder, but on many other occasions. The defense argues that the defendant acted in self-defense out of fear of imminent sexual assault. But the prosecution has their own theory. This is a business arrangement gone bad. Like those that sat through the trial from gavel to gavel, like the author, the outcome may leave you wondering if justice was served, or if justice was denied. The outcome was expected to go one way or the other to an extreme. Yet the ultimate decision made by this jury will leave you wondering whether justice was served at all. Due to the salacious nature of the case, and the fact that it involved numerous victims of sexual assault, the names of everyone involved in this case have been changed to protect their privacy. This real-life trial involved material that would easily get an “R” rating in the movies, if the camera angles were done just right. This is recommended for adults only.