A new Netflix documentary about the Dallas Cowboys brings renewed attention to a plot from 1996, in which a Dallas police officer attempted to have Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Michael Irvin killed. The story was originally revealed during Irvin’s drug trial that year.
During the middle of Irvin’s trial on cocaine charges, authorities arrested Johnnie Hernandez, a Dallas police officer who was then the common-law husband of Rochelle Smith. Smith had been called as a witness in Irvin’s trial. Reports at the time stated that Hernandez paid an undercover federal agent several thousand dollars as a down payment for Irvin’s murder.
Police reported that Hernandez was upset over Irvin’s involvement with Smith. Authorities learned about his intentions and arranged for an undercover meeting in a northwest Dallas shopping center parking lot.
“There, Hernandez solicited the murder Mr. Irvin, specified a price and paid the undercover officer a large sum of cash as partial payment,” then-Dallas Police Chief Ben Click told reporters.
Irvin was not aware of the plot until after Hernandez had been arrested. Ultimately, Irvin reached a deal with prosecutors regarding his cocaine possession case; he entered a plea of no contest and received probation along with a fine.
The details of this murder plot were largely forgotten until they were revisited in Episode 7 of “America’s Team: The Gambler and his Cowboys.” This episode focuses on Irvin’s legal issues following the Cowboys’ third Super Bowl win.
In the documentary, Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman shared support for Irvin by appearing at his trial and recalled witnessing Irvin practicing soon after learning about the attempted murder-for-hire plot.
“I didn’t think it would mean as much as it did,” an emotional Michael Irvin said on the documentary. “But yeah, he showed up.” (…) “He’s doing conditioning and he runs and crosses the goal line,” Aikman said, “And he does his signature like he would do when he scored a touchdown. He holds the ball up. He’s showing it to the crowd. He’s waving it, and then he spikes it, this imaginary ball that’s in his hand. And I’m watching this, and I’m thinking, ‘God, this guy just had a hit on his life.’ And then I walked out and gave him a big hug. And he just started laughing because he knew that I’d observed the whole thing.”
Hernandez later received a six-year prison sentence related to his actions.
