LA judge accepts no prison time for deputy who killed father of 3

The judge who approved the deal is a former sheriff’s deputy.

This story was originally published by Los Angeles Public Press.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold ruled Tuesday that a former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy will be sentenced to two years of probation for his role in the fatal shooting of a 34-year-old father of three. 

The sentence was issued after Remin Pineda agreed to plead guilty to two felonies of assault with a firearm and assault under color of authority.

Pineda will also be required to serve 250 hours community service, complete one year of psychological counseling, relinquish his POST certificate that licenses him to be a police officer, make a payment of restitution and issue a written apology to David Ordaz Jr.’s family. He faces a suspended sentence of 180 days in county jail if he violates the terms of the agreement. 

The sentence is the result of a plea agreement between the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and Pineda.

On March 14, 2021, Ordaz’s sister called the East LA sheriff’s station to request assistance for her brother who was experiencing a mental health crisis and threatening suicide and holding a knife. While responding to the call, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shot Ordaz 12 times, killing him. Of the four deputies who participated in the shooting, Pineda was the only one charged. 

“I don’t want an apology from him, it’s not going to mean anything to me,” Ordaz’s sister, Hilda Pedroza, said in addressing the court on Tuesday.

Pedroza called 911 for help in 2021. On Tuesday, she was among the approximately two dozen members of the Ordaz family and their supporters who filled the courthouse to oppose the plea deal with Pineda.

“We’re not asking for him to rot in jail, we’re not asking for him to die,” Pedroza said. “I’m imploring for you to give us what he deserves, for this to go to trial…for him to pay for what he did.”

Ordaz’s eldest child, Emily, softly cried as she gave her statement: “I believe that a fatal supposed accident still warrants consequence … Significant punishment must be given as a result of grave error.” 

Pineda’s sentence is nearly identical to a plea deal offered in October 2023 , which included two years of probation. Prosecutors presented that agreement – which they had kept secret – to a different judge, Michael Pastor, but Pastor rejected it.

Arnold, the judge who approved the sentence on Tuesday, is a former deputy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and disclosed to Ordaz’s family that his son is currently employed there. He also oversaw the manslaughter trial and acquittal of another sheriff’s deputy, Luke Liu, in 2021.  

Arnold remarked that it was his job to be objective in his decision making, and that Pineda was not the “typical felon” that comes into his courtroom. 

“The mental state of the suspect is important when imposing a sentence. When the deputies went to the scene … they didn’t go there intending to shoot anybody,”  he said. “I feel badly for all of you, but there’s nothing more to say.”

Pineda is one of eight police officers charged in six shootings by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s office, according to the office. So far, that has resulted in two convictions. In January, Andrew Lyons, a former deputy sheriff, was convicted in the fatal shooting of  24-year-old Ryan Twyman, also a father of three. Lyons served 12 days in jail as part of his sentence. 

Gascón lost his bid for reelection to Nathan Hochman, a former US attorney and defense counsel of former LA County Sheriff Lee Baca in November.  

In November 2022, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office announced charges against Pineda, who was among several deputies who shot and killed Ordaz. Videos and reports from the district attorney’s office show that deputies Edwin Navarrete, Nathaniel Trujillo, Jaime Romero, and Pineda fired a volley of shots at Ordaz as he moved toward them with a knife at his side, pointed down. As he was shot, Ordaz fell to the ground, dropped the knife, and laid with his back facing the deputies. Pineda continued to shoot. Members of Ordaz’s family stood just a few feet away from him as he was killed, and yelled for the deputies to stop.

When deputies arrived at the family home, they ordered Ordaz out of a parked car he was sitting in. He exited and stood about 15 feet away from them and began to pace back and forth along the sidewalk between the car and his family on the other side of a chain link fence, as captured on their body-worn cameras. 

A few minutes later, two deputies in the group fired beanbag rounds at Ordaz, with deputies Pineda, Navarrete, Trujillo, and Romero following seconds later with gunshots. Pineda kept firing after the other deputies stopped shooting, even as Ordaz Jr., “continued to lie on the ground on the right side of his body,” according to a 13-page memo from the district attorney’s office on the incident. Another deputy was captured on video telling him to stop, but Pineda fired a final round as Ordaz lay on the ground, the knife discarded. 

At least four of the 12 gunshot wounds Ordaz sustained were fatal, according to an autopsy performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. Two of those shots were fired by Pineda, the medical examiner found. However, the DA’s office concluded that Navarrete’s gun was fired lawfully in defense of others, and that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trujillo and Romero’s shots were unreasonable and unnecessary.

“Someone going through a mental health crisis shouldn’t have to be killed,” Pedroza, Ordaz Jr.’s sister, said at a press conference Monday. “We need to do better for people. We need them to do better for our community.”

In April, Pineda’s case was assigned to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar. Before his preliminary hearing, Pineda offered a no-contest plea for just two years of probation, community service, and a relinquishment of his POST certification, or police officer’s license. 

During a closed conference in chambers with Deputy District Attorney Ryan Dibble and defense attorney Steven Alvarado, the court offered Pineda the choice of either pleading no contest to be sentenced at a later date or moving forward with the preliminary hearing. He chose the preliminary hearing, which concluded in May. 

Ordaz’s family says that without all the deputies being charged, there is no justice. 

“It should be all of the deputy killers, especially those who killed David,” Pedroza said. “They should all receive jail time.”