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The Dallas District Attorney does not plan to seek the death penalty for Yordanis Cobos Martínez, the Cuban charged with capital murder for beheading the manager of the motel where he worked in that county in the state of Texas, media outlets reported on Thursday.
Cobos Martínez, 37 years old, appeared for the first time before a court at the Frank Crowley courthouse in Dallas this morning, reported the television network Fox News.
The Cuban man, accused of decapitating Chandra Mouli “Bob” Nagamallaiah with a machete on September 10, in front of the victim's wife and son, and then throwing the head into a trash container, was formally charged with capital murder on October 23. According to the Texas Penal Code, if found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
However, the county prosecutor's office informed the court today that it did not intend to take the case to trial with the death penalty.
“According to our investigation and my conversations, the state of Texas will not seek the death penalty. However, we reserve the right to change our minds if any unforeseen circumstances arise,” stated the prosecutor Julie Johnson during the hearing presided over by Judge Lela Mays.
Johnson informed the magistrate that the Prosecutor's Office will have a definitive response regarding the death penalty on January 8.
According to Fox News, this decision “is not surprising, especially in a case where the accused person is not a U.S. citizen.”
For its part, Cobos Martínez's defense informed the judge of the need to know with certainty whether their client will face the maximum penalty.
The public defender Lalon “Clipper” Peale argued that, if this were a death penalty case, it would involve hiring experts and conducting a thorough investigation, which would include traveling to Cuba, where the accused was born and raised, to speak with his family and investigate “if there are any mitigating factors that could benefit him during the trial,” specified Fox News.
The defendant's legal representative added that they would also visit other places, such as California, where he lived before moving to Texas, and did not rule out the possibility of subjecting Cobos Martínez to a psychiatric evaluation.
"Obviously, he is not American. It will be necessary to take mitigation measures. These measures will involve travel, either by the council or mitigation experts, to Cuba and other destinations. Therefore, it will be essential to implement extensive mitigation measures in this case," were the words of Peale, as quoted by the television network, which recalled that the expenses of the entire process would be borne by the taxpayers of Dallas County.
On an unspecified date in December, the prosecutor's office and the defense must appear before the judge.
So far, no date has been set for the trial against Cobos Martínez.
The heinous crime that shook Dallas
The murder of 50-year-old Chandra Mouli "Bob" Nagamallaiah took place on the morning of September 10 at the Downtown Suites Motel on Samuell Boulevard, next to Interstate 30.
According to the sworn statement from the arrest, witnesses reported that Cobos Martínez, who was an employee of the motel, was cleaning a room with a coworker when their boss, Nagamallaiah, approached them and told them not to use a washing machine that was out of order.
The Cuban argued with the manager and then left the building, took a machete, and attacked him repeatedly. The victim tried to escape, running and shouting through the parking lot to the office, where his wife and son were. Both tried to intervene to help him, but were pushed aside.
Cobos Martínez continued to assault Nagamallaiah until he beheaded him.
The sworn statement also indicates that, afterward, the attacker kicked Nagamallaiah's head twice against the pavement, picked it up from the ground, and threw it into a garbage bin.
Cobos Martínez was arrested shortly after, while walking covered in blood and still holding the machete. Since then, he has been held in the Dallas County jail, with a bail set at 1.25 million dollars, in addition to an immigration hold (ICE hold).
A lengthy criminal record and accusations of an alleged unpaid crime
Fox News noted that when he committed the murder, Cobos Martínez already had a criminal record for violent offenses in the United States, with a conviction in California and arrests in Florida and Houston.
In 2023, he was found guilty and sentenced to a year and a half in prison for having assaulted a woman in South Lake Tahoe, California, while naked in 2017.
His criminal record also includes charges of indecency with a minor in Texas (dismissed) and arrests for vehicle theft in Florida (did not proceed).
Due to his criminal record, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to deport him in early 2025, but the Cuban government refused to receive him, which led the agency to release him on January 13 due to "no significant likelihood of removal in the foreseeable future."
Her release, made public by Fox News and CBS, sparked a heated political debate following the crime.
But after the assassination in Dallas, other accusations emerged from Cuba.
Relatives of a man in the province of Holguín reported that Cobos Martínez allegedly killed him in 2008, in the municipality of Mayarí.
According to the victim's family as stated to Univision, Cobos Martínez allegedly fatally stabbed Rolando Peña Almaguer during a dispute, but his uncle took the blame to prevent the young man from being imprisoned.
As a result, the attacker was not prosecuted for that crime and was able to leave Cuba years later.
Reactions to the murder
The brutal crime committed by Cobos Martínez caused a great shock and outrage, in addition to demands from various sectors of society calling for a harsh sentence against the perpetrator.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, condemned the brutal murder of Nagamallaiah by the Cuban migrant and called for stricter measures against illegal immigration following this incident.
In a message on his Truth Social network, the president wrote: “I am aware of the terrible reports regarding the murder of Chandra Nagamallaiah, a highly respected individual in Dallas, Texas, who was brutally decapitated in front of his wife and child by an illegal alien from Cuba who should never have been in our country.”
He recalled Cobos Martínez's criminal record and asserted that under his administration, there will be no leniency towards immigrants with a criminal background. "This individual has been previously arrested for terrible offenses, such as child sexual abuse, car theft, and unlawful detention, but he was released back to our homeland under the incompetent Joe Biden because Cuba did not want such a wicked person in their country," he stated.
From Cuba, Odalis Martínez Rodríguez, the mother of the accused, stated to Telemundo 51 that she was aware that her son did something terrible and had to pay for it.
The lady asserted that he was suffering from mental health issues and revealed that, months earlier, after being released from prison in the United States, she requested his repatriation from the International Red Cross, intending to provide him with medical care in Cuba.
However, she stated, the Cuban regime refused to receive him. “I was happy because I thought I was coming to Cuba, coming to take care of him, to take him to the doctors... but they didn't accept him," she said.
Cobos Martínez's grandmother also spoke firmly from the island: “He should repent for what he did before God, because that family man did not deserve to die like this.”
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