Wife's Love Letter Entered to Prove Sudden Passion, Jury Deliberates Salazar's Sentence

SAN ANGELO, TX — After compelling arguments from both the state and defense in the Grape Creek murder trial of Matthew Salazar, the jury has been sent to deliberate the sentence of punishment as of 11:33 a.m.

The jury has been handed instructions to decide whether Salazar acted in sudden passion on Aug. 31, 2013, when he shot and killed his wife, Heather Salazar in the home of her lover, Bradley Floyd, who was also shot and injured in the incident.

Defense attorney John Stacey Young began the third day of testimony Thursday morning at 10:15 a.m., when he called Salazar’s mother, Debbie Salazar to the stand as a character witness on her son’s childhood, academic performance, faith and how she perceived him as a husband and father.

Following the testimony of his mother, Salazar himself took the stand, reaching for a tissue as Young asked him tell the jury why he deserves another chance by imposing a shorter sentence.

Struggling with the question, Salazar glanced in the direction of the gallery and asked in tones choked with tears, “Can I talk to Heather’s family for a second?”

Heather Salazar’s mother, aunt and sister sobbed quietly as Young redirected his question and pushed him to answer.

“I’m sorry,” he said, slowly shaking his head and frowning. “I didn’t mean…” he was unable to complete his sentence.

Asked how he felt when he walked in and was met with the sight of a naked Floyd and his wife’s purse, he solemnly stated, “I couldn’t believe it. I had asked them. I had trusted them. What are you supposed to feel in that situation?” he begged, desperately.

In one of the most emotional portions of his testimony, Salazar reflected on a “40-day love dare” he and Heather had completed in the months prior to the killing.

“Forty days you do specific things for your loved one. It’s a way of, I guess, relighting the fire in your relationship,” Salazar explained the challenge stems from a book. “At the very beginning of the program, I told her we should write letters to about where we want to be [at the end of the challenge].”

Salazar stated that the couple had exchanged the letters and he had given hers back when he confronted Heather and Floyd about his suspicions of an affair.

“Do you really mean this?” Salazar said he’d asked after the confrontation before turning it over. The letter was found in her purse, he said.

Providing a copy to the defendant, Young asked Salazar to read the contents to the jury. Crying and uttering a few words and phrases between long pauses, Salazar began. Portions of that letter are written below. This letter is not complete.

You were so unexpected in my life, but I’ve loved every minute of it…I’ve never had to do anything like this before, but I am very excited about where we are headed…

…I am putting my heart and soul into this relationship…you have shown me what real love is…Everything I know about relationships has been watching those around me fail…

You opened my eyes to things that I thought I would never experience…I think marriage is a special bond that you should sign forever and I want to sign this and never look back…

…There are so many things we will face in our lives…

Salazar begins to break uncontrollably and Young takes over the reading.

…There are so many things we will face in our lives…and I want to be the one you come too…I want to go to bed with you and wake up with you…and grow spiritually…

…I <3 you forever!!

Following Salazar’s testimony, the defense rested its case. Both attorney’s presented approximately 30 minutes of closing arguments before handing the instructions to the jury for deliberation. Sudden passion and the length of the imprisonment were heavy points for both attorneys.

In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Bryan Clayton began with a reminder of the seriousness of the case.

“I want you to remember that 355 days ago exactly, Heather Felts was shot and killed and left to die in a filthy bathroom,” he stated.

In order to sway the jury from sudden passion, which would reduce the punishment range from 5-99 years down to 2-20, Clayton stressed a portion of the definition, which states, “Passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed or another acting with the person killed, which passion arises at the time of the offense…”

Laying heavy emphasis on “at the time of the offense”, Clayton recalled moments of testimony and evidence entered in the court over the past two days, including Salazar’s suspicions of the affair, his confrontation of Floyd and Heather, the “Where’s my iPhone” app, and the defendant’s statement that he had paused briefly before pulling the trigger on his wife.

“It had not escaped his mind,” Clayton said. “This was not sudden, this was deliberate. He thought it out…Reflection time is present…a three-mile drive…” Clayton reminded the jury of the drive Salazar had to make from his house to Floyd’s on the day of the murder.

“Folks, in reality, he could have walked in that door with the gun in his hand and found them wrapping his birthday present,” Clayton concluded.

Defense attorney John Young then delivered an emotionally-charged argument, asking each of the jurors to think about how they themselves would feel having received such a letter and to find that their spouse was indeed cheating.

“Have you ever written words like this to the person you love the most?” he asked. “Have you ever received words like this? Doesn’t it mean something...Matthew believed it,” he said. “Imagine in your own life, through trauma, commitment, through heartache, what that must have meant to Matthew.”

Young then turned his address toward sudden passion, completing the definition where Clayton left off. “…passion which arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation.”

Laying emphasis on the word “solely”, Young stressed that the things Clayton had mentioned were former provocation and may be considered, then asked again how they’d feel to open the door of a friend’s house and find their spouses in that situation.

He asked the jury to consider Salazar’s life as depicted by those who testified on his behalf and to look at their job as not one of sending a message to the community, but as making a decision for humanity.

Clayton completed the arguments by speaking once more, this time calling attention to Heather Salazar’s family seated in the courtroom. For his arguments, he referred to the deceased as Heather Felts, her maiden name and how her family wishes she will be remembered.

“Your verdict will speak as to how those things ought to be handled,” he said, referencing infidelity. “Let your verdict speak to the folks in Tom Green County. Just because something goes wrong, you don’t get to kill them. Let your verdict speak and let it be heard loudly. Life is not cheap down here on the banks of the Concho.”

The Grape Creek Murder Trial, as it unfolded in the Tom Green County Courthouse in August 2014:

• August 18, 2014: Grape Creek Capital Murder Trial Begins Today.
• August 19, 2014: Victim Blasted on Affair in Capital Murder Trial.
• August 20, 2014: Victim and Defendant Testimonies Clash in Grape Creek Murder Trial
• August 20, 2014: Victim and Defendant Testimonies Clash in Grape Creek Murder Trial
• August 21, 2014: Wife's Love Letter Entered to Prove Sudden Passion, Jury Deliberates Salazar's Sentence. 
• August 21, 2014: Grape Creek Murder Trial Reveals Salazar's History of Extramarital Affairs.
• August 21, 2014: Salazar Found Guilty in Grape Creek Murder Trial.
• August 21, 2014: Salazar Gets 99 Years for Grape Creek Murder.
• August 21, 2014: Video: Murder Victim's Mother Speaks on Sentencing, Remembers her Daughter.
• August 25, 2014: Confessions of a Killer: Salazar Contemplates the Next 99 Years.