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A La Paloma preacher is expected to be sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to his wife's murder.

Julio Cesar Perez appeared before Judge Migdalia Lopez in the 197th State District Court on Tuesday morning.

Perez pleading guilty to a capital murder of his wife Sonia Perez and is now expected to be sentenced on Friday.

The former preacher was headed to trial and accused of hiring a gunman to kill his wife, who worked as an elementary school teacher in Rio Hondo.

Court records show that Julio Cesar Perez told middlemen that Sonia was "in his way" and that he wanted her dead.

Cameron County Sheriff's Department deputies arrested Perez and five others for their roles in Sonia Perez's death.

Triggerman Daniel Flores Lopez got life in prison while middleman Gabriel Apolinar Escalante got 30 years in prison.