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<\/p>\nEditor’s note: This story contains graphic details about an alleged murder.<\/p>\n
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Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Dallas County Jail<\/p>\n
Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against the man accused of beheading a Dallas motel manager last September<\/a>, authorities said.<\/p>\n Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, admitted to using a machete to attack and kill his co-worker at the Downtown Suites on Samuell Boulevard<\/a> during an argument, according to investigators.<\/p>\n The decision was disclosed in a document filed this month in the 283rd Judicial District Court in Dallas.<\/p>\n Cobos-Martinez still faces a capital murder charge. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear why prosecutors decided against seeking the death penalty or when the trial would begin.<\/p>\n CBS News Texas has reached out to the court clerk for more information.<\/p>\n Arrest affidavit details alleged killing<\/p>\n An arrest affidavit released last year revealed graphic details about the case.<\/p>\n In a sworn statement submitted to a Dallas County magistrate judge, a Dallas police detective said Cobos-Martinez was involved in an argument with the victim, 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah.<\/p>\n Both men worked at the Downtown Suites motel on Samuell Boulevard, east of downtown Dallas. A witness, another motel employee, told police she was cleaning a room with Cobos-Martinez when Nagamallaiah came to tell them not to use a broken washing machine.<\/p>\n The witness told police that Cobos-Martinez became upset because Nagamallaiah had the employee “translate the communication instead of speaking to [Cobos-Martinez] directly.”<\/p>\n Police said surveillance video showed Cobos-Martinez leave the room, pull out a machete and begin attacking Nagamallaiah. Investigators said the victim ran toward the motel office, where his wife and son were located, while screaming for help.<\/p>\n A witness who requested anonymity told CBS News Texas he saw the incident unfold.<\/p>\n “He chased him from 108 all the way to the office. The man was trying to get into the office to tell his family,” the witness said.<\/p>\n According to police, Nagamallaiah’s wife and son tried several times to intervene, but Cobos-Martinez pushed them away and continued the attack. Investigators said Cobos-Martinez then took Nagamallaiah’s cellphone and key card from his pockets before continuing the assault until the victim was decapitated.<\/p>\n “The suspect then kicked the [Nagamallaiah’s] head twice into the parking lot and proceeded to pick it up and carry it to the dumpster and put it inside,” the detective wrote in the affidavit.<\/p>\n As Cobos-Martinez walked away from the scene, a Dallas Fire-Rescue crew arrived and saw him carrying the machete and covered in blood, police said. Firefighters followed Cobos-Martinez until police officers took him into custody.<\/p>\n Dallas Fire-Rescue said that when crews are dispatched to incidents involving a potential or ongoing threat, “our members are required to stage at a safe distance until law enforcement has deemed the scene safe for entry.”<\/p>\n “I feel bad for his family because he got a wife, they came out, and they didn’t know what to do. She was screaming, hollering, but I told her to get back because I didn’t know if he was going to attack her too,” the witness said.<\/p>\n Police said Cobos-Martinez admitted to the killing during an interview with detectives.<\/p>\n Records show Cobos-Martinez was previously arrested twice on auto theft charges in Florida. Records also show he has pending indecency with a child and assault charges in Houston.<\/p>\n CBS News Texas will provide updates as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n Felesha Lee, <\/p>\n Briseida Holguin and <\/p>\n Steven Rosenbaum<\/a><\/p>\n contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n