HOUSTON – A Houston woman is found guilty for shooting and killing her husband while he was asleep in their bed.
Prosecutors said Sandra Martinez deliberately placed a pistol inches from her sleeping husband's head and pulled the trigger in September 2009.
The defense claimed 28-year-old Cesar Barrera was not asleep when he was shot. They said the shooting was the climax of a violent argument between Barrera and Martinez. They told jurors that Martinez was a battered wife who was only trying to scare Barrera by pointing what she thought was an unloaded gun at him.
"She was assaulted twice that night," defense attorney Eric Clay said.
Jurors found Martinez guilty of the the lesser charge of manslaughter instead of murder.
In the punishment phase of the trial, Martinez took the stand again to plea for a probated sentence to continue caring for the couple's two small children.
"I'm very sorry for what has happened, and I know no matter what I say or what I do, he's never going to come back," Martinez said.
Jurors sentenced her to seven years in prison.