A Waco man pleaded guilty in district court on Tuesday to capital murder for the beating death of his wife
Reporter: Paul J. Gately
Email Address: paul.gately@kwtx.com
WACO (December 30, 2009)—Robert Chavira Espinosa will spend the rest of his life in prison after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to the May beating death of his wife.
Robert Chavira Espinosa, 29, avoided the death penalty on the capital murder charge by accepting the plea offer of life without parole.
Prosecutors told 19th State District Court judge Ralph Strother Espinosa used a hammer to bludgeon his estranged wife Rosario Moreno after he broke into her house in the 500 block of Proctor last May 11.
Neighbors found Moreno laying in a nearby front yard at about 2 a.m.
Moreno died at a local hospital on May 22.
Lead prosecutor Edward Vallejo said the McLennan County District Attorney’s office offered the plea deal based upon Espinosa’s criminal history and the trauma an extended trial might have caused his children, who were the only witnesses to the crime.
Vallejo said Moreno’s family was aware of the plea offer and agreed to the outcome.
The life sentence is virtually automatic in Texas on a capital murder charge when a plea is offered because in a plea deal the death penalty cannot be imposed.
Waco attorney Russ Hunt, said Espinosa was legally sane at the time of the offense but he does have other mental issues.
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