EDINBURG — Nancy Arlene Lopez admits she’s made mistakes.
The 32-year-old woman took the witness stand Tuesday afternoon in the murder trial of her former lover, 31-year-old Weslaco resident Victor Lee Alfaro, who is accused of shooting and killing Lopez’s little brother — 21-year-old Reynaldo Reyes Jr. — in the Edinburg apartment they shared six years ago.
Alfaro has entered a not guilty plea.
This is Alfaro’s second trial for the allegations. His first ended in a mistrial in March 2018 after the jury could not come to a unanimous decision on the murder charge. Newspaper archives indicate Lopez’s testimony likely played a part in the unsuccessful 13 hours of deliberation.
That first trial also ended with state District Judge Mario E. Ramirez Jr. acquitting Alfaro on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for accusations that he pointed a handgun at Lopez because of a lack of evidence.
On Tuesday, Lopez, who was shackled, handcuffed and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, told jurors how she lives in an Alabama federal prison where she is serving 10 years for a drug trafficking conviction.
A criminal complaint and federal court records indicate authorities charged her for a role in a December 2017 smuggling event at the Progreso port of entry where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a man after finding nearly 40 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside candles.
She also told jurors about her three burglary convictions and how she asked her sister to straw purchase a firearm for her — which she gave to Alfaro — because she had been harboring people in the country illegally at her Edinburg Village Apartment, where people broke into and took the people she illegally harbored.
Despite that long criminal record — and a history of dishonesty — she said that she’s not lying about her testimony that Alfaro shot her brother.
Reyes sustained two shots to his left buttock and a shot to his face just after midnight on May 4, 2016.
A forensic pathologist said Monday that all three shots were potentially fatal.
An intense cross examination by defense attorney O. Rene Flores marked Lopez’s testimony. That cross examination followed questioning from prosecutor Jay Garza, who asked Lopez to walk jurors through the night and early morning her brother died six years ago.
Her testimony had jurors sitting on the edge of their seats.
Lopez said it was a normal day.
After Lopez, her two children, Reyes and Alfaro went out to eat at the Chili’s on University Drive, she said she and Alfaro dropped the kids and her little brother off at the Edinburg Village Apartment before driving to Bank of America so she could withdraw some cash.
She claimed that Alfaro stayed in the vehicle and said he began to smoke meth.
When they arrived home, she went inside and got in bed, wanting to get intimate with Alfaro, who stayed outside smoking meth, according to Lopez.
When he came back in, she said he wore winter weather gloves and began loading bullets into the 9mm handgun her sister straw purchased for her a month prior. Lopez asked her sister to do this because she was already a convicted felon.
Lopez said that at some point Alfaro pointed the gun at her head.
However, Lopez said she wasn’t in fear for her life and not concerned because Alfaro played with the gun when he got high.
Then, Lopez said Alfaro said something, which she didn’t remember, before telling her that he loved her and running to Reyes’ room. That’s when she heard three gunshots, she said.
She claims she got up — naked except for a blanket — and Alfaro confronted her at gunpoint after shooting her brother.
He backed up to the door and Lopez said Alfaro then handed her the gun before leaving.
Lopez, who is familiar with firearms, said she took out the magazine and placed the weapon on a table.
She also alleged she visited Alfaro at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center about a year after the shooting because she wanted to know why he killed her brother.
Lopez said Alfaro told her that he saw her brother like a demon, which she attributed to the meth.
However, during cross examination, Flores, the defense attorney, hammered home questions about inconsistencies in her statements through four different interviews with police while highlighting her extensive criminal record.
“I have a history of not making the right decision,” Lopez admitted.
As for those inconsistencies, Lopez said the heart of her story to police has remained consistent and that any inconsistencies are details she left out because of the shock she experienced from her brother’s murder.
One of those inconsistencies is whether she told an investigator about Alfaro’s meth use, according to Flores.
When she maintained she said this, the attorney suggested that the investigator, who has not yet testified, may say otherwise.
Some of her testimony Tuesday contradicted her former neighbor Mirna Light’s testimony.
Light told jurors that she arrived at Lopez’s apartment before police and went to the room where Reyes lay dying. Light said she wanted to put pressure on his wounds, but that Lopez stopped her.
Lopez claims Light never entered her apartment because police had arrived and moved everyone away from the scene.
She testified that she didn’t touch her brother, but also said that she did touch him during a failed attempt to provide CPR, which she admitted she did not know.
Flores also questioned her about an interview regarding a supposed jail-house tip to police that she said Reyes actually died after he was shot while she and Alfaro were struggling over the handgun.
Lopez denies this.
She also denies that she argued with a man that night, which contradicts Light’s testimony that she heard Lopez’s voice arguing with an unidentified man approximately 10 minutes prior to the shooting.
Through the entirety of her testimony — inconsistencies and all — she steadfastly maintained that Alfaro shot her brother and that she loved her brother and had no reason to harm him.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Wednesday morning — the sixth anniversary of Reyes’ death.
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Second murder trial begins for Weslaco man accused of killing ex’s brother
