A Philly man who said he killed his wife for disrespecting him is sentenced to state prison

A Holmesburg man who killed his wife after he said she disrespected him was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison by a Montgomery County judge.

Jose Luna, 59, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder late Wednesday before Judge Wendy Rothstein. The plea, negotiated with prosecutors, spared him from a trial scheduled to begin next month on first-degree murder and related crimes.

Luna shot Alisett Schubert, his wife of seven years, five times on Feb. 21 as she drove them home from a family party in Rockledge, according to prosecutors. The murder weapon was Schubert’s .38 caliber revolver, which Luna had grabbed from his wife’s purse as they began to argue.

Luna’s attorneys, Scott Frame and Joe Schultz, said he pleaded guilty to spare his wife’s family the pain of sitting through a trial.

“This was his wife, he loved his wife, and he has to live with this rest of his life,” Schultz said. “He feels the weight of what he’s done.”

The sentence handed down by Rothstein effectively puts Luna behind bars for the rest of his life, something Frame said Luna has acknowledged and accepted, remorseful for his actions on the day of the shooting.

In Schubert’s obituary, her family described her as “a spirited soul whose love for life was unparalleled.”

“The circumstances surrounding her passing are a heartbreaking reminder of the fragility of life,” they said. “Suddenly and tragically taken from us, Alisett’s absence leaves an unfillable void in the lives of those who knew her.”

From the outset of the case, Luna admitted he killed Schubert, 48, prosecutors said.

Hours after the shooting, during an interview with detectives, Luna said he slapped Schubert during a family party after she disrespected him, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He told her, after hitting her, that he didn’t care if her family saw the dispute.

The couple continued to argue on the drive home from Rockledge. During the dispute, Schubert stopped the car, and told Luna to get out and walk home.

Luna saw that his wife was holding her purse, and he knew her gun was inside it. The two began to fight over the bag, the affidavit said. Luna grabbed it, pulled out the gun and shot his wife once.

As Schubert turned to get out of the car, Luna shot her four more times, according to prosecutors. He then fled the scene, pausing to throw away his hat and jewelry so he “wouldn’t be recognized.”

Officers in Rockledge found Schubert on the ground, unresponsive. She was later pronounced dead at Jefferson Abington Hospital.

Luna was arrested about a mile away from the crime scene, still holding the gun. He raised the revolver to his head, telling responding officers that he had lost everything, and pulled the trigger.

The gun was empty.