A widow confronted her husband’s convicted killer in court for the first time.

Julio Diaz was in court on Monday, where he was sentenced to serve life in prison in connection with the July 2023 shooting death of 55-year-old Robert Wise.

Wise was shot outside the McAllen Masonic Lodge, and police said Diaz posted a video of the killing on his social media page.

During victim impact statements, Wise's wife – Josie Sanchez — described her husband as a man who loved music and had the same breakfast every morning.

"Our world was full of music. You know that man would speak with music. He would sing," Sanchez said. "And every morning he always had two tacos. It was always the same. A bean and bacon taco. And I would tell him, 'What's it today? A bacon and bean or a bean and bacon?'" 

Sanchez said she sat in court in silence for years and listened. The sentencing gave her the chance to speak.

"My husband Robert was not, was not your choice to take. That was not your choice. I had just seen him 15 minutes before you shot him. Yeah, you go ahead and yawn," Sanchez said.

She then turned to Diaz's mother, the one person who, like her, sat through the case from the other side of the courtroom. Sanchez told Diaz she had thought about what his actions had done to his mother too.

Diaz answered back.

"And she's the only one you didn't think about of who's going to take care of her," Sanchez said.

"I did think of her," Diaz said.

"No, you didn't," Sanchez said.

“She's very proud of you. You think you're very smart. Look at where you're at now," Sanchez said.

"Perfect," Diaz said.

"Yeah," Sanchez said.

Wise's friend Fred Cano also spoke about the man he knew long before this case made headlines. Cano knew Wise as a teenager and then went decades without seeing him before they reconnected.

"When I ran into him at the Masonic Lodge when he first went in, I was just impressed with him because he was still the same guy he had been 30 years before, however many years it had been," Cano said.

Masonic Lodge leader remembers Robert Wise; says Wise would've forgiven murderer

For Cano, the sentence meant the people who knew Wise finally got to tell the court what his death left behind.

"The bad guy got the message about how much he's disliked and how much the family is hurting," Cano said.

Sanchez closed with a message about moving forward.

"And we now move on to our next chapter without my husband," Sanchez said. "We will learn to play his music again. We will learn to laugh. And I just ask that you pass on not only giving shakes but also hugs to everyone. That means a lot. I could surely use one.”

Diaz's attorney, Lennard Whittaker, said the legal fight is not over. 

The defense is waiting for a report from a court-appointed neurological expert looking at whether Diaz's mental health could have supported an insanity defense and provide information that could be considered during sentencing.

A judge ordered the report before the trial, but it is still pending.

"There might be a motion for a new trial. If this report lands within the time period for the motion for a new trial, perhaps during appellate time, it will be brought up in appeals," Whittaker said.

Whittaker said he does not know exactly when the report will arrive but expects it soon.

Diaz will remain in the jail for at least a few weeks before being transferred to state prison. He was also sentenced to 50 years on two arson charges in connection with fires that happened in 2022 and 2023 at the Masonic Lodges in McAllen and Weslaco. The sentences will run concurrently.

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