Romeo Flores of Orangedale was so upset that his wife had cheated on him again that he borrowed a gun, stalked her for several days and shot her and killed the man she was with last July, a Bee County prosecutor told a jury during opening statements Tuesday.

But defense attorneys said Romeo was distraught at his wife’s unfaithfulness and it drove him insane and led him to shoot the two with a gun he had borrowed for hunting.

Romeo, who was 41 at the time of the shooting, was indicted last year on one count of first-degree murder, punishable by up to 99 years in prison, one count of attempted murder, a second degree felony offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and aggravated assault by threat with a deadly weapon — a .357 Magnum revolver.

He is accused of shooting his wife, Beverly Jean Flores, twice in the stomach with the revolver on July 16, 2007, and killing Martín Cano, 43, at the Flores’ home some three or four miles west of Beeville on FM 673.

Bee County District Attorney Martha Warner is prosecuting the case on behalf of the state.

Rockport attorneys Reese Rozzell and James Teague were appointed to defend Flores.

Nine men and three women were selected Monday to hear evidence against Flores and decide his fate.

Testimony began Tuesday morning with Warner calling witnesses who testified that Flores was upset that his wife had cheated on him again and had decided to leave him for another man.

Rozzell assured the jury during opening statements Tuesday that he and his defense team would not object to much evidence presented by the prosecution, other than to contest any suggestion that his client was sane at the time of the shooting.

A Bee County sheriff’s deputy, Sgt. Craig Gisler, testified he had responded to a call of a domestic complaint at the Flores’ residence in Orangedale on July 11.

He said Romeo had called dispatchers after he and his wife had gotten into a fight over her philandering ways.

Gisler said Romeo told him that his wife had come home that morning after a night out and had taunted him by showing him the hickeys on her breasts.

Gisler said Romeo called police because his wife could get violent.

Gisler said Beverly Jean told another deputy she would tear into her husband once the officers left so Gisler ordered her to vacate the residence, which she did.

A friend of Romeo’s testified Romeo had called him up on July 12 and asked to borrow a pistol to go hog hunting.

It was that pistol which was used to commit the murder, Warner told jurors.

She said Romeo was planning the murder in advance, the act of a sane person.

However, under cross examination by Rozzell and Teague, witnesses testified that it was common to hunt hogs with pistols instead of rifles.

Romeo’s best friend, Israel Ledesmo Jr., who lives in Houston, said Romeo called him shortly after deputies left and told him about the fight and his wife’s cheating,

“He said Beverly was leaving. She had taken up with someone else,” Ledesmo recalled. “He was pretty distraught. He had called police. He wanted a witness. She had scratched him up in the past.”

Ledesmo, a witness for the prosecution, said Romeo called him again on the following day and told him he planned to kill his wife.

“He called me and said he was getting a gun,” Ledesmo recounted. “I told him, ‘No, don’t do it. Don’t kill her.’ He said he was going to kill Beverly and himself.”

Ledesmo said Romeo told him his deceased mother had told him to kill Beverly and then himself and that once he did he could come to heaven with her.

“He said his mother told him to do it. And I knew his mother had died about five or six months before. But he said his mother had a place for him in heaven, that she had it all lined up,” Ledesmo told jurors. “I told him he wouldn’t go to heaven that way.”

Ledesmo said Romeo sounded depressed.

“He didn’t sound like the Romeo I knew,” Ledesmo assured the jury.

He said Romeo told him he had followed his wife and her parents, who lived next door and who owned the house Romeo shared with Beverly, to a local restaurant.

Ledesmo said Romeo told him he planned to kill “them” when they came out but Ledesmo said he convinced Romeo not to commit such a heinous act.

Ledesmo said he called the sheriff’s department and notified them of the conversation and urged them to find Romeo before he harmed anyone.

Warner surmised that anyone who had found out that his spouse was cheating on him, and she had moved out to live with another man, and she had been ordered to leave his house, would be angry and maybe even angry enough to get a gun and shoot someone.

She suggested Romeo was “setting up” his insanity alibi by calling his friend in advance and telling Ledesmo about the conversation with his dead mother.

Gisler, answering Warner’s questions, recounted the crime scene he visited shortly after the shooting.

Warner told jurors she would call Beverly Flores’ mother to testify that she heard the shots, came outside and found Romeo standing on the porch pointing a gun at her face.

Warner told jurors that Cano was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time July 16, 2007. She said Cano had offered his home to Beverly Flores because he was moving to California.

Warner said testimony will show that Cano was simply helping Beverly move the day of the shooting.

He was gunned down on the front lawn, Gisler testified.

Cano’s relatives attended the trial.

Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday.