Julio Diaz, the Alamo man serving life in prison for killing McAllen Freemason Robert Wise and setting fire to two Masonic lodges, is asking a judge to grant him a new trial. His attorneys say a court-appointed forensic neuropsychologist concluded Diaz was legally insane at the time of the crimes, even though the same expert found him mentally fit to stand trial.
A hearing on the new-trial request is set for November 9, according to KRGV. The station reports that the defense's bid for a new trial rests on findings from Dr. John Matthew Fabian, who examined Diaz roughly eight times between November 2025 and August 2026. Fabian reported that Diaz has a documented chronic history of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, along with auditory and visual hallucinations and persecutory delusions centered on the Freemasons and the Illuminati.
Court documents cited in the same report state that Diaz believed his actions were justified self-defense for himself, his mother, and the world against those perceived threats. Fabian's evaluation also found that Diaz was competent to stand trial and could understand the proceedings and work with his attorneys — a distinction that separates the legal question of present-day competency from the insanity claim now at the center of the new-trial request.
From a Disputed Brain Cyst to an Insanity Claim
The case has shifted considerably since its early pretrial stages. Diaz's defense team had previously argued he had an untreated cyst in his brain, according to Mexican medical documents referenced in earlier coverage from the same station's report on his competency proceedings. At that point, medical experts found him capable of going to trial, a determination separate from the later evaluation of his mental state when the crimes occurred.
During trial, the defense had requested additional time to complete Fabian's evaluation, but the judge denied those requests, the station's report states. That procedural history is now part of what the defense is pointing to in its push for a new trial.
Conviction and Sentencing Timeline
A jury found the 38-year-old guilty of fatally shooting Wise after about an hour of deliberations, according to MyRGV.com. Diaz was convicted in August 2026 of murder and two counts of arson connected to Wise's 2023 killing and fires at two Masonic lodges. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder charge and 50 years for each arson charge, with the arson sentences running concurrently, per the same KRGV report on his sentencing.
Wise was shot outside the McAllen Masonic lodge at 118 N. 11th Street on July 10, 2023, as he was getting into his pickup truck to drive home and celebrate his installment with his family, according to MyRGV.com. Prosecutors had argued during trial that surveillance footage showing Diaz running away after the shooting demonstrated he knew what he was doing was wrong — a point that stands in direct tension with the insanity claim now driving the new-trial request.
The November 9 hearing is scheduled in a case that has moved from disputes over Diaz's physical and mental fitness to stand trial toward a post-conviction fight over his mental state at the moment he pulled the trigger.
