Anna man sentenced to life in prison for murdering wife

McKINNEY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — A jury sentenced an Anna man to life in prison today after finding him guilty of killing his wife last year.

Joseph Daniel Enriquez, 55, called 911 on March 12, 2021 and told dispatchers he shot his wife. Anna police responded to the home and found the victim on the bathroom floor with a shotgun wound to the chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Enriquez initially told police that he accidentally pulled the trigger while putting his shotgun away and mentioned several times that it was not loaded. Officers, however, checked the gun and found a live round loaded in the chamber.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife and taken to the Collin County Jail. While in custody, Enriquez told a family member a different story months later. 

He told the family member that his wife had found out that he had an affair eight years earlier and loaded the gun herself. Enriquez claimed the gun accidentally went off as he grabbed it from her.

At trial however, firearms experts cast serious doubt on his story. They explained that the particular shotgun used in the crime required the shooter to apply over nine pounds of pressure in order to pull the trigger. They also testified that the gun was fired between 9 and 12 feet away from the victim, not at close range as Enriquez claimed.

A jury found Enriquez guilty and subsequently sentenced him to life in prison.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said after the sentencing, "While the criminal justice system can never make a loved one's family feel whole again, we hope that the jury's maximum sentence brings at least some peace and solace to the victim's family."