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A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy will avoid prison time in the 2021 shooting death of a suicidal man under the terms of a plea deal he reached with prosecutors Tuesday morning.
After pleading no contest to one count of assault with a firearm and one count of assault under color of authority, Remin Pineda was sentenced to two years’ probation in California and lost his right to become a police officer, prosecutors said. must be abandoned.
Pineda will also be required to perform 250 hours of community service and provide a written apology to the victim’s family, and could receive a suspended sentence of 180 days in prison if he violates the terms of his contract. He will also be banned from owning a firearm for life.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office last year entered into a similar agreement with Pineda, one of four prosecutors who shot and killed knife-wielding David Aldous in front of his parents’ home in 2021. However, a judge rejected the agreement following Ordaz’s ruling. Relatives emotionally complained that his sentence was too light.
Ordaz’s family lined up in the courtroom Tuesday, many wearing pins with portraits of their loved ones on them, and wept in front of the L.A. County deputy. Atty. Ryan Dibble finished explaining the terms of the contract.
This time, Los Angeles County Judge Mark S. Arnold accepted the plea deal.
Aldous’ oldest sister, Hilda Pedrosa, asked Arnold to allow a jury of Los Angeles County residents to decide Pineda’s fate and give his family “hope in this justice system.” I begged.
“Please give the Los Angeles community, the County of Los Angeles, an opportunity to actually see this video and decide for themselves,” she said.
Mr. Pineda was charged in 2022 with assault with a firearm and assault under color of authority. Prosecutors determined there was not enough evidence to charge the other two deputies who shot Ordaz Jr. and said the third deputy acted in lawful self-defense.
But Pineda’s use of force was deemed excessive, continuing to fire after Aldous Jr. fell to the ground and at least once after he dropped the knife, according to a recording of the incident played in court last year. It is said that he did.
In March 2021, police were called to Ordaz Jr.’s home after he armed himself with a knife and told his sister he was suicidal. When officers confronted him, he was holding a 12-inch knife and was yelling at officers to shoot him, according to body camera footage taken at the scene.
“That’s not what we want to do,” Pineda said, according to court records.
Eventually, the deputies fired beanbag rounds in an attempt to subdue Ordaz Jr., but as Aldaz Jr. moved toward them, all four deputies opened fire, striking Aldaz with a barrage of at least 12 shots. -Killed Junior. The shooting continued as Aldous Jr. collapsed and his relatives screamed, the video shows.
Pineda continued firing even after other deputies stopped firing, even though Aldous Jr. “continued to lie on the right side of his body on the ground,” according to court records.
Video of the incident showed Pineda firing despite instructions from another deputy to stop.
Pineda’s attorney, Stephen Alvarado, said he disagrees that a prison sentence is the only justice in the case and believes his client is paying a “heavy price.”
“There are no winners in this case,” he said. “My heart goes out to the families who are here today.”
This incident is representative of the struggle occurring in Los Angeles Township. Atty. Georges Gascón has aggressively pursued police for excessive force cases. He has prosecuted police officers for shootings far more frequently than his predecessors, but those cases almost always end in acquittals, dismissals or plea deals with minimal prison terms.
“We have to have a realistic view of the particular court that we’re in, who the judges are, what decisions are being made,” Gascón said in an interview with The Times last month. ” he said. “Sometimes we settle for less than we would like…sometimes we recognize that we are working with a handicap and we do the best we can.”
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