In a recent court case, the State faced off against 35-year-old Derek Taj Harper on charges of murder. Stephen Duplantis led the prosecution team, with Brandi Mitchell as second chair and Eugene Reyes serving as the DA Investigator. The Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation.
The victim in this case is 32-year-old Ronnie Olvera.
The incident unfolded in their apartment in the 5600 block of Abrams Road, near East Northwest Highway in northeast Dallas. According to details from the arrest affidavit, the sequence of events began around 7:10 p.m. when Olvera dialed 911, reporting that Harper was attempting to choke him. Despite dispatchers' instructions to separate, the call abruptly ended.
Approximately three hours later, Harper himself contacted 911, confessing to shooting Olvera. Police arrived to find Olvera on the kitchen floor, fatally wounded by a gunshot to the head. Nearby lay a steak knife, while a butcher knife was found against the refrigerator, near the suspected scene of the shooting.
Throughout the trial, footage from interior BLINK cameras revealed instances of Harper assaulting Olvera. Although the shooting itself was not captured on camera, footage from two interior BLINK cameras showed interactions between the couple throughout the evening, including instances of the defendant assaulting the victim. Additionally, security video from the apartment complex depicted Harper forcefully pulling the victim back into the apartment by his neck only 90 seconds before the 911 call. In his interview with detectives, Harper claimed that the violence escalated when Olvera refused to surrender his car keys as he was being kicked out of the apartment.
During the trial, Harper claimed self-defense, alleging that the victim had grabbed a butcher knife and attempted to stab him, leaving him with no alternative but to shoot. Notably, neither the victim nor Harper had a prior criminal history.
After deliberation, the jury found Derek Harper guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
