Plea Bargain In Connection To Smith County Murder

One of the co-defendants charged in connection with an East Texas murder has entered into a plea bargain with Smith County prosecutors.  Stanton Pearce of Tyler pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with physical evidence.  He was accused of watching Luis Matrinez’s girlfriend shoot him to death, and then throwing the body into a creek and cleaning up the crime scene. Pearce was sentenced to 40 years in prison.