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EDINBURG — A 51-year-old Edinburg woman has been sentenced to prison after she was convicted for the murder of her husband on Dec. 8, 2019 following an argument regarding adultery.
Karla Marlen DeLeon was sentenced to 18 years in prison with five days credit for murdering her husband, 48-year-old Hector DeLeon, by shooting him in the head after a heated argument.
DeLeon was convicted Tuesday after an estimated six hours of deliberation.
State prosecutors Gretchen Flader and Jay Garza argued that the defense’s argument of DeLeon acting in self defense was invalid as her husband was hunched over and packing clothes when she shot him with his .357 revolver.
“The devil’s in the details,” Flader said.
Testimony from pathologist Dr. Norma Farley said the gun was less than a centimeter away from the back of Hector’s head when DeLeon pulled the trigger.
DeLeon argued during her testimony that she never pulled the trigger and stated she never had gun handling training but that she had fired guns before.
Her defense attorney, Charles Banker, added that the revolver didn’t require a lot of pressure to go off.
During her testimony, Farley said that guns don’t just go off.
On Dec. 8, 2019, after Hector received a text message, he and DeLeon got into an argument due to his infidelity and pornography watching habits.
According to DeLeon, the two began shoving and pushing each other and at one point Hector punched her in the face after he told her to be quiet.
Hector then began to pack his clothes and pulled out his revolver, which according to DeLeon, he displayed before placing it on their bed.
DeLeon testified that Hector began to blame her for their arguments and his infidelity.
She then grabbed the revolver and pointed it in front of her as she approached Hector from behind.
DeLeon alleged that Hector shoved or pushed the gun away before it went off.
Her son, Ektor, called police following the shooting.
When authorities arrived, they found Hector in the master bedroom’s bathroom lying on his back in a puddle of blood with the revolver lying next to him.
