Primera man gets 20-year sentence in mother's stabbing death

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Primera man who stabbed his mother to death has been sentenced to prison, Cameron County court records show.

On Oct. 2, Dallas Scott Gilbert pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the 357th District Court.

The charges of attempted capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon were dismissed, according to records.

Dallas Scott Gilbert (Cameron County Jail records)

Background

On April 18, 2023, authorities were dispatched to the 21800 block of Stuart Place Road, where they found Gilbert's mom, identified as 47-year-old Angela Watt Gilbert, in a pool of blood in the living room.

According to an affidavit obtained by ValleyCentral, authorities found Dallas's father, identified as Gary Scott Gilbert, holding him down.

The document detailed that Angela was stabbed more than eight times on different areas of her body with a silver kitchen knife. She was later pronounced dead due to her injuries.

Dallas told authorities he was talking to his mom about different topics moments before the attack.

“When all of a sudden, he started remembering that earlier in the day his dad was complaining about Dallas not [being] in shape to even throw a football,” the affidavit stated.

According to the document, Dallas said he then walked into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and cut his mother's hand while "just playing around."

He added, he went into an “unexplainable [rage] of anger” and began stabbing his mother. His father woke up to screams and Dallas said he was filled with so much anger that he began stabbing his father until he eventually dropped the knife, the affidavit stated.

Dallas was taken into custody and was issued a $1.5 million bond.

On February 26, 2024, Dallas's defense filed a notice of insanity defense in the case. According to the notice, it claims that Dallas was “insane at the time of the commission of the offense alleged in the instant indictment.”

On April 23, 2025, the state filed a motion to have Dallas examined by a psychiatrist for sanity, following his insanity defense. The following day, the order was appointed to have a psychiatrist examine Dallas.