Mata Pleads Guilty in Wife’s Murder, Gets 50 Years

TYLER — A Smith County man pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering his wife in February and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. KETK reports Adrian Mata, 29, had waived his arraignment Thursday morning. Mata shot Jennifer Mata, 30, February 25 at their home on Poplar Road. The victim was rushed to a local hospital but died from her injuries a few hours later. When authorities responded to the scene of the shooting, the shooter had fled in his car. He was arrested at a home in The Villages subdivision. Jennifer Mata, a mother of three young children, was a pharmacy technician at UT Health Northeast.