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BY ALLEN ESSEX VALLEY MORNING STAR . Escalante fenced to 30 years in state prison for the mur der of Sonia E. Perez. Judge Elia Cornejo Lopez in 404th state District Court announced the teacher of the year at Judge Oscar de la Fuente Elementary School in San Benito, where she taught before teaching in Rio Hondo. She was found dead in her van along Robles Road near Rio Hondo on March 31, 2011, sheriff's officials said. Her husband is charged with capital murder. A hearing on motions in Julio Cesar Perez's case is set for April 17 and his trial is set for Sept. 4 in the 197th state District Court of Judge Migdalia Lopez, _ the Cameron County district attorney's office said in a statement. Prosecutors allege that he hired five men to have his wife killed so he could collect on a life insurance policy worth about $120,000. Escalante pleaded guilty to murder just as a large jury panel had filed into the the he changed his mind and entered his guilty plea,” Cornejo Lopez said. Escalante’s plea agree requires him to tes ment fy against Julio Cesar Perez, the judge said. She said Escalante would testify that he knew why Julio Cesar Daniel Flores Lopez, 38, pleaded guilty to capi tal murder in October and was sentenced to life in prison. “(Escalante) was claiming that all he had done was give the phone number of the shooter to the preacher,” Cornejo Lopez said. “He claimed he didn’t know what he wanted it for.” Escalante was a mem ber of the Julio Cesar Perez’s church, sheriff's October 1ow and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He admitted buying ammu nition for the .357-cal iber magnum revolver used in the murder.
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Wed, Apr 11, 2012
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Clarissa M.
USA 17 Jun 2026
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