A teen-ager who killed a man for $23 and the promise of a car from the victim's wife was sentenced to death by lethal injection Wednesday. 

Mark Arthur, 18, was convicted of capital murder last week for the slaying of Esequiel Fonseca, shot at least seven times as he drove home from work on Beltway 8 Dec. 21, 1996.

Fonseca's wife, Carmen, 41, who had an affair with Arthur and, prosecutors allege, asked him to kill her husband, is awaiting trial. A 16-year-old also involved is being handled by juvenile authorities.

It took the jury 22 hours to reach its decision on Arthur's sentence Wednesday.

After the verdict was read, Arthur's mother wailed in court, screaming "It's all my fault." She then screamed that she should have had an abortion.

The defendant began crying.

"His tears were only for himself," prosecutor Jane Waters, said, noting the defendant showed no remorse in the trial.

The jury heard about Arthur's criminal history dating back to when he was 12. Waters said Arthur has a juvenile record for car theft and a conviction for carrying a weapon.

He also has been tied to a string of crimes over a 23-day period last December that led up to the murder. These include accusations of burglary of a habitation, aggravated robbery, car theft and aggravated assault.

Defense attorney Kurt Wentz asked the jury to spare Arthur's life, telling them that the young man was influenced by an evil woman. He said Carmen Fonseca told Arthur that she was a battered woman.

On Dec. 21 last year, Arthur and a friend parked alongside Beltway 8 near Texas 288, waiting for the victim to pass by, according to a sheriff's department report. They pulled up next to Fonseca and fired into his car until it went out of control and crashed.