A Hidalgo County jury took less than 30 minutes to find Julio Diaz guilty on all charges Thursday. Diaz, 35, of Alamo, was convicted of murder and two counts of arson in the 2023 shooting death of a Freemason outside a McAllen Masonic lodge.
The verdict ends a case that started three years ago. Robert Wise, 55, of Mission, was shot in the face and killed outside the Masonic lodge on North 11th Street in McAllen. Wise ran a trucking company and had just been installed as junior deacon at the lodge that night.
This case matters to South Texas because it shows how online conspiracy theories can turn deadly. Prosecutors say Diaz targeted Wise out of hatred for Freemasons. The trial showed years of digital evidence. Instagram videos and a recorded jail call tracked Diaz's fixation before the killing.
Wise's widow, Josefina Sanchez, took the stand on the first day of trial. She said her husband kissed her goodbye and told her he would be home in 15 minutes. Instead, she got a call from another lodge member. "He said, please come back, something tragic has happened," Sanchez testified. She rushed to the hospital. Doctors told her Wise had died.
Prosecutors showed the jury a wedding ring, a Freemason ring, and a blood-stained suit jacket pulled from the scene. Surveillance video showed a man circling the lodge before walking up to Wise as he got into his truck. Police say Diaz drove up in a black Chevrolet Blazer that night.
A friend of Diaz first tipped off police, sending them screenshots of messages after the shooting. Officers arrested Diaz the next day, on July 11, 2023.
The state also played phone evidence. Investigators pulled videos off Diaz's phone that showed what looked like a gun and clips of his daily life. They pointed to an Instagram account they believe belongs to Diaz. That account posted a video of the shooting itself. In one recorded jail conversation, Diaz claimed the Freemasons and the Illuminati were attacking him with "black magic and spiritual attacks." He said on the recording, "Everything I do against the Freemasons and the Illuminati, I posted online."
Diaz's defense team argued he suffered from delusions. They said he believed he was fighting a "non-human threat," not a real person. Defense attorney Lennard K. Whittaker showed jurors a Post-it note Diaz wrote. It mentioned Freemasons and an ancient mythical race called the Anunnaki. Whittaker told the court the defense could not get an expert witness in time. The expert would have testified about Diaz's mental state.
Jurors did not buy the defense. They convicted Diaz of murder along with arson charges tied to two earlier fires. Investigators say Diaz tried to burn the McAllen lodge in September 2022. He also set a fire at a Masonic lodge in Weslaco in February 2023. Both fires happened months before the killing.
A grand jury indicted him that September on murder and arson charges. One charge was arson with intent to damage a place of worship. That means setting fire to a church, lodge, or other worship site on purpose. Diaz had been held on $1 million bond since his arrest, and the case took nearly three years to reach trial.
Diaz chose to let the judge decide his punishment instead of the jury. Sentencing is set for September 21. He faces 5 to 99 years in prison.
The case shows how anti-Freemason conspiracy theories online can turn violent. Prosecutors say those theories pushed Diaz to kill. Wise's family and the McAllen Masonic community now wait for sentencing. The hearing next month will decide how much time Diaz serves.
