Guilty plea from Rio Hondo school teacher suspect

The state dismissed the capital murder charge for one of the men accused in the shooting death of Rio Hondo teacher Sonia Perez.

Instead, Mark Daniel Garza pleaded guilty this morning to tampering with evidence.

State District Judge Rolando Olvera sentenced Garza to 10 years in prison based on the plea bargain arrived at by the state and Garza's attorney.

Garza told the court his only role in the death was giving the gun to Daniel Lopez, who has admitted to fatally shooting Perez.

Perez, a mother who was named teacher of the year at Judge Oscar de la Fuente Elementary School in San Benito, was found dead in her van along Robles Road off Williams Road near Rio Hondo March 31, 2011.

Her husband Julio Cesar Perez, a pentecostal minister, is facing a capital murder charge, accused of paying the gunman to kill his wife.

Read more in tomorrow's Valley Morning Star.