Man who shot, killed Dallas hospital medical workers guilty of capital murder

The man who opened fire inside Methodist Dallas Medical Center, killing two medical workers, was found guilty Thursday of capital murder.
Nestor Hernandez, 31, will be automatically sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Dallas County prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
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The 12-person panel weighed whether Hernandez knowingly or intentionally killed the women to find him guilty of capital murder. They were also asked to consider lesser charges, like murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, which carry lighter sentences and are eligible for parole. The Dallas County jury deliberated for almost an hour and a half and asked to review police body-camera video and hospital surveillance footage of the shooting.
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Hernandez murdered nurse Katie Flowers and social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa last fall at the north Oak Cliff Hospital.
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Nestor Hernandez, 31, exits the courtroom after victim impact statements at the Frank Crowley Courts Building, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, in Dallas. Hernandez was found guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Katie Flowers and social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Testimony in the high-profile trial ended Wednesday evening; the jurors heard from eyewitnesses, experts and Hernandez himself who admitted to killing Flowers and Pokuaa but said it was an accident.
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Family and friends of Flowers seemingly jumped up from their courtroom gallery benches when State District Judge Chika Anyiam read the unanimous verdict aloud. They let out their held breaths and some let out whispered exclaims of “yes” and “it’s okay.” After the jury was dismissed, the family hugged and thanked prosecutors, including District Attorney John Creuzot.
The jury found Hernandez knowingly or intentionally killed the women to find him guilty of capital murder. The jury could have considered lesser charges, like murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, which carry lighter sentences and are eligible for parole.
Hernandez, who had a history of robbery convictions and was on parole with an ankle monitor at the time of the shooting, was at the hospital Oct. 22, 2022, to visit his girlfriend, Selena Villatoro, and their newborn baby in the labor and delivery ward. Villatoro had given birth the day before. She testified she gave him an ultimatum: ditch his black pistol or she wouldn’t give the baby his last name. Hernandez said he left the gun in her makeup bag.
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Villatoro testified Hernandez became enraged, accused her of infidelity and pistol-whipped her. He then threatened to kill her, himself and anyone who came into the room, she said. Pokuaa, the social worker, went into Room 6 for routine patient care and Hernandez shot her in the back of her head, Villatoro said.
But on the witness stand, Hernandez said he and Villatoro were fighting when Pokuaa tried to intervene and the handgun misfired. In a panic, he then shot into the hallway, striking Flowers, before a Methodist police officer shot Hernandez in the upper thigh.
In closing arguments, District Attorney John Creuzot — who led jury selection for prosecutors and sat behind the attorneys throughout testimony — said Hernandez went to the hospital that day with “rage, resentment, anger and a plan to kill” masquerading as a doting new father. He said Hernandez, who had methamphetamine in his blood and carried a beer to the maternity wing, was on a “mission to kill.”
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“The plan,” Creuzot said, “was to wreak chaos and kill.”
Prosecutor George Lewis said the women’s injuries and unused bullets found in the hospital room proved Hernandez acted deliberately. He was motivated by his beliefs that Villatoro cheated on him; that he wasn’t the baby’s father; and that she’d given him a sexually transmitted disease. During testimony, prosecutors presented a paternity test showing Hernandez was the newborn’s father.
Photos of 45-year-old Jacqueline Pokuaa (left) and 63-year-old Katie Flowers during the capital murder trial of Nestor Hernandez, 31, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Dallas. Hernandez is alleged to have shot and killed Pokuaa and Flowers at Dallas Methodist Medical Center. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Lewis, in his impassioned argument, called Hernandez a coward. Family and friends of Flowers seated nodded and whispered in agreement.
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Defense attorneys conceded in their closing statements that Hernandez did open fire but said he didn’t intend to kill anyone. They then asked jurors to consider a lesser charge. Hernandez huddled with his attorneys at times throughout the morning.
Lawyer Paul Johnson said Hernandez and Villatoro were in a fraught on-again, off-again relationship and she was using their son’s birth certificate and what last name to give him over Hernandez’s head. The fight, Johnson said, grew out of control, escalated by Villatoro, when the gun went off, almost instantly killing Pokuaa.
Johnson asked the jury to rule in favor of “justice and not revenge.”
The jurors nodded along and some pursed their lips as the lawyers spoke.
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Closing arguments were delayed by a few hours Thursday morning because one juror was late. Creuzot asked State District Judge Chika Anyiam to dismiss the juror, alleging the juror seemed confused and smelled of alcohol.
Anyiam briefly questioned the juror before allowing him to stay on the panel.