A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy will avoid jail time in the 2021 shooting death of a man outside his home in East Los Angeles.
Remin Pineda pleaded no contest to one felony count of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and assault after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Body camera video footage showed a 34-year-old David Ordaz Jr., who was armed with a knife and experiencing a mental health episode on March 14, 2021, was shot by deputies just a few feet away from Ordaz’s family members.
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While Pineda was charged for the shooting in 2022, prosecutors decided there wasn’t enough evidence to charge other deputies. Pineda’s actions were called into question as he was seen continuing to shoot even after Ordaz was on the ground and disarmed.
Ordaz’s family members protested the plea deal, saying the no-jail sentence is too light.
“We completely don’t agree on that,” Hilda Pedroza, Ordaz’s sister, said in the courtroom Tuesday. “We are furious, saddened and disappointed the DA’s office is willing to take that.”
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The district attorney's office, however, said in a statement that Pineda will face "the penalties of a serious felony conviction."
"The resolution of this case takes into account the circumstances of the events surrounding the death of David Ordaz, as well as the defendant’s history and apparent intent at the time of the crime," the DA's office said. "It is our belief that even had the defendant been convicted at trial, a court was unlikely to impose a prison sentence or significant custody time in county jail because of these factors."
Under the agreement, Pineda will serve two years in probation and pay the victim’s family restitution – while being prohibited from becoming a police officer or owning firearms for the rest of his life.
Ordaz's family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging that deputies used unjustifiable lethal force when they shot and killed Ordaz.
Pineda's restitution hearing was scheduled for Jan. 30.
