Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio woman who pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in the 2022 shooting of her lover’s wife has been sentenced to life in prison. Elisa Wesley Alvarez, 56, stood impassively as the foreperson of a jury in state district court read the verdict aloud just after 5 p.m. today in the second-floor courtroom of the Val Verde County Judicial Center on South Main Street.
The jury, made up of nine women and three men, deliberated for less than an hour before returning a unanimous decision on the life sentence.
Alvarez and a co-defendant, Jose Ignacio Solis, were indicted for murder in the July 25, 2022, killing of 48-year-old Mirosalva Martinez.
Martinez was shot in the head and chest just outside her home at 142 Fir St. in the Cienegas Terrace neighborhood of the county.
Solis, who was arrested first, told sheriff’s office investigators Alvarez had hired him to do work around her south Del Rio home, then later induced him to shoot Martinez, offering to buy Solis a plot of land and a house in Ciudad Acuña, Coah., Mexico.
It didn’t take long for investigators to zero in on Alvarez, who had been having a months-long affair with Mirosalva Martinez’s husband, Jose Maximo Martinez Sr.
Alvarez’s trial on the murder charge was set to begin in 83rd Judicial District Court on Tuesday with the selection of a jury.
Once the jury was selected, Martinez and her counsel, Del Rio attorney Jacques De La Mota, stood in front of 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena as District Attorney Suzanne West read the indictment.
When West finished, Cadena asked Alvarez how she wished to plead to the charge against her.
De La Mota, speaking for his client, said she wished to plead guilty.
Cadena accepted the plea and instructed the jury to return to the courtroom at 9 a.m. today to begin hearing testimony in the punishment phase of the trial.
Today’s court session began with opening statements by West and De La Mota.
The jurors and spectators then heard from a range of witnesses called by West, including Solis, Alvarez’s co-defendant; sheriff’s office investigators and Martinez’s 14-year-old daughter, who was the only other person at the residence when Martinez was gunned down.
After West presented her witnesses, De La Mota called two of Alvarez’s daughters to testify on their mother’s behalf.
Following the end of testimony, Cadena read the jury the charge of the court, a set of detailed instructions to guide their deliberations.
The jurors were told they could recommend Alvarez be imprisoned for life or for a term of years no less than five years or greater than 99 years, as well as impose a fine of up to $10,000.
The jury was then given two forms. On one, they would formally find Alvarez guilty of murder by dint of her guilty plea on Tuesday. On the other form, they would recommend a term of years for punishment.
After the reading of the charge, De La Mota and West made closing statements to the jury, and the jury was sequestered to begin deliberations at 4:19 p.m.
Jurors asked several questions during the deliberations, delivered to the judge as handwritten notes by the court bailiff. Cadena conferred with both West and De La Mota before sending written replies.
At 5:05 p.m., the jury foreperson notified the bailiff a verdict had been reached.
After everyone reassembled in the courtroom and the jury returned to its box, Cadena instructed Alvarez to stand and face the foreperson of the jury, who also stood as she read the verdict.
The foreperson read that Alvarez “be confined in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a term of life” and also read that the jury recommended Alvarez be fined $10,000.
De La Mota asked that the jurors be polled, and Cadena asked each person on the jury if the life term and the maximum fine had been his or her verdict, and each replied that it was.
Cadena then ordered jurors back to the jury room, where they would receive payment for their service. He also said he planned to address them privately before they left the courthouse.
After the jury left the courtroom, Cadena again asked Alvarez and De La Mota to stand before the bench, and he imposed the sentence and fine decided by the jury.
Afterward, Alvarez and De La Mota returned to their seats at the defense table, and West told Cadena one of Martinez’s daughters wished to read a victim impact statement.
Martinez’s three daughters, including the one who had been with her when she was shot and killed, and Martinez’s son stood at the podium, flanked by district attorney’s office investigators Michelle Salinas and Roger Dixon, as one of the sisters read the statement.
After the statement was read, Cadena ordered Alvarez remanded to the custody of the sheriff’s office. She was handcuffed and led from the courtroom.
The writer can be reached at DelRioMagnoliaFan@gmail.com .
NEWS – Woman pleads guilty to 2022 murder – 830Times
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