A Texas woman was sentenced on Friday for trying to hire someone to kill her then-boyfriend's sister, who owed her money. However, the person she thought would carry out the hit turned out to be an undercover cop.
Angelica Navarro-DePaz, 44, is sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of solicitation of capital murder on Wednesday in a San Antonio courtroom. She also received a $10,000 fine.
Navarro-DePaz Ordered the Kill Over a $40,000 Debt
During her trial, jurors heard audio recordings of her asking the undercover cop to carry out the murder in 2017. She reportedly will be eligible for parole after serving a quarter of the sentence.
"I don't care how she dies," Navarro-DePaz said in a recording, according to The San Antonio Express-News. "Snatch her, slit her throat, do whatever."
Authorities said the defendant was targeting Anayeli Mendoza Flores. Flores reportedly owed $40,000 after Navarro-DePaz snuck her into the United States.
Navarro-DePaz was arrested after she agreed to make a $850 down payment of a $1,700 total price for the hit, according to authorities. Navarro-DePaz claimed she was the real victim and whatever she said on the recording was under duress.
Navarro-DePaz Said She Was Being Threatened by a Criminal Organization
When she took the stand, Navarro-DePaz admitted to saying those things in the recording, but only because she was the victim of a criminal organization that threatened her and her children's lives and Flores was a member of the same gang.
Her defense attorney – who asked to keep her name private due to fears of the same criminal organization her client fears – said her client never intended for murder.
At the time of her arrest, police maintained they had more than just her words to use against her. They had evidence of the specific steps she took to get the killing done. Jurors ultimately did not buy the defense's story and convicted Navarro-DePaz.
