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A man from Kerens, Texas, accused of murdering three women at a South Padre Island condo was found not guilty by a jury panel Friday following a week-long trial.
Yordi Barthelemy was accused of killing Sandra Nopales, Zulema Nopales and Odalys Hernandez by shooting the women inside a condo at the Sunchase Condominiums, located at 1004 Padre Island, on Aug. 7, 2021.
According to his court-appointed attorneys, Sara Stapleton-Barrera, Ed Stapleton and Nat Perez Jr., Barthelemy told police from the moment he was arrested that he acted in self-defense after being assaulted by the women.
Barthelemy’s defense team stated that he killed the women because after they entered his room, one of the women said she was going to kill him before they all began to assault him.
In a statement to The Monitor, the defense team said Wednesday that the jury heard evidence of an injury Barthelemy suffered as a child that left him to be affected by lifelong repercussions.
“…[Barthelemy] suffered a severe head injury when he was 7 years old and that injury gave rise to [Barthelemy] periodically having severe seizures and having to be on medication,” the statement said.
The jury also learned during the trial that following a domestic argument with his girlfriend, she ran down to the neighboring room and cried to her mother, grandmother and aunt that she had been assaulted by Barthelemy.
However, the photographs taken by police at the time of the incident didn’t show any signs of strangulation or injury.
Evidence showed that the three ladies entered the room Barthelemy was staying in and waited for him to return.
When he entered the room, the women began to assault Barthelemy by “striking him upon the head where he had the previous surgery.”
Barthelemy testified during the trial that while being attacked, he was repeatedly struck with a “hard” object.
He feared suffering a seizure or being left paralyzed, so he drew his firearm which was in his luggage and fired in rapid succession, striking the three women.
According to the defense, Barthelemy left the hotel to Port Isabel right after the shooting, called 911 and turned himself in without incident.
“During his video recorded interview with police, rejecting assistance of an attorney, told the police that he was being assaulted and had acted in self-defense at the time of the shooting,” the statement said.
After the trial, several jurors were interviewed and stated that the primary reason for their verdict was that law enforcement didn’t submit key evidence to the Texas Department of Public Safety lab for analysis that would’ve supported Barthelemy’s claim that he was assaulted.
