Man convicted for killing teacher over affair

EDINBURG — A man accused of murdering a Sharyland teacher was found guilty of murder this morning.

Daniel Gilberto Perez, 34, is awaiting sentencing later this morning for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend Summer Lee Meland, 28, of McAllen, who died in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2008.

A housekeeper found Meland's body inside the teacher's home at 304 Yucca Ave. on the north side of McAllen. Meland and Perez's then 3-month-old son was in the home at the time of the discovery.

Prosecutors argued text messages between Meland and Perez during the hours before she was found dead explain why she was found shot in the face, her baby crying by her side.

Meland, a teacher at B.L. Gray Junior High School in Mission, gave Perez an ultimatum regarding their relationship: Leave his wife or she would leave him, with their son in tow.

Faced with the choice, Perez texted back that Meland could do what she wanted, leave him, but hinted at future payback, the criminal complaint in the case states.

“You know what made him mad?” prosecutor Michelle Puig asked the jury during her closing argument Wednesday. “Finally, Summer was done.”

Police alleged Perez, who was married to another woman, took his wife and other children to a South Padre Island motel and eventually fled to Mexico on his own. There, he holed up with relatives in Guanajuato state until December 2009. U.S. Marshals worked with Mexican authorities to secure his arrest and extradition to Hidalgo County.

Jurors began deliberating the case Wednesday afternoon and continued all day Thursday and into this morning. They are beginning the sentencing phase this morning in the 398th state District Court.

Murder is a first-degree felony. Perez faces up life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.