A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for ambushing and shooting his ex-wife and her new boyfriend during a family gathering last year at her Hurst home.
The victims miraculously survived.
Jurors deliberated just two minutes on Thursday afternoon before convicting Lenar “Alex” Corales of attempted capital murder for wounding his ex-wife, Alicia King, and her boyfriend, Victor Perez. The jury sentenced Corales to the 60-year prison term on Friday morning. He must serve 30 years before he is eligible for parole.
During the trial in state district Judge Mollee Westfall’s court, prosecutors Rhett Parham and Keith Harris presented evidence that Corales was angry with King because she no longer wanted anything to do with him. Also, evidence was presented that Corales purchased a gun three weeks prior to the shooting with the hope he would have the opportunity to kill King and her new boyfriend.
On the night of April 28, 2013, Corales laid in wait outside King’s house in the 700 block of Thousand Oaks Drive in Hurst, where she was hosting a family gathering. About 9 p.m. Corales walked up to King and Perez after they exited the residence and opened fire with a .38 caliber handgun, shooting King in the chest and Perez in the back and head. Afterward, Corales turned the gun on King again and shot her in the forehead.
Perez’s 7-year-old son witnessed the shooting, and King’s three children were inside the home when their father shot their mother.
King suffered a shattered skull, a punctured lung, a broken clavicle and two broken ribs. She was rushed to JPS Hospital where she died at one point on the operating table. Doctors were able to revive her and eventually save her life after several surgeries. Perez was also taken to JPS where he was treated for his gunshot wounds and released several days later.
During the punishment phase of the trial, the jury heard that King divorced Corales in 2010 after he drove intoxicated with their three children. In early 2013, King allowed Corales to temporarily move back in to help care for their children while she tended to her ailing mother, who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
During that time, King discovered that Corales had secretly recorded her coming out of the shower and ordered him to leave. Not long after that, Corales began harassing and stalking King and once broke into her house, where she discovered him hiding in her closet.
“The jury’s verdict in this case sends a significant message to this defendant and to the community as a whole that we take domestic violence extremely serious in Tarrant County,” said Prosecutor Rhett Parham. “We hope the verdict helps bring the King and Perez families closure from this heinous crime.”