Man, 20, gets jail time, 10 years of probation for killing of friend

BENTONVILLE — A Springdale man was sentenced Friday to four weeks in jail and 10 years of state-supervised probation for killing the person he described as his best friend.

Fernando Ortiz, 20, previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and no contest to theft by receiving. He pleaded guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement, so his punishment was in the hands of Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren.

He faced the possibility of up to 16 years in prison. Seth Segovia, a deputy prosecutor, recommended the judge sentence Ortiz to four years in prison.

Springdale police were called at 1: 43 p. m. Oct. 25, 2019, about a shooting at 3645 Eagle Crest Circle in the Benton County portion of Springdale. Officers found 19-year-old Pedro Pena with a gunshot wound in his neck. He was pronounced dead at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Pena and three other friends — Gabriel Blevins, Daemon Blevins and Mauricio Roman — were at the house playing video games, the affidavit said.

Sgt. Ross Patton with the Springdale Police Department testified the group had been filming themselves on Snapchat with a gun. Ortiz had the shotgun while being filmed by Pena, Patton said. Ortiz leveled the gun at Pena and pulled the trigger and shot Pena in the neck, Patton said.

Ortiz testified he didn’t mean to shoot Pena. He and Pena became friends when he was in the eighth grade and there was nothing but smiles and happiness when Pena was around, he said.

“With a simple giggle, he would put a smile on anyone’s face,” Ortiz said.

Segovia wanted to know why Ortiz pointed the gun at Pena. Ortiz said he didn’t intend to show off the gun and wasn’t aware it was loaded.

Ortiz apologized to Pena’s family members who were sitting in the courtroom, including Pena’s mother, who held a framed photograph of her son. He said he wanted to pay for a headstone for Pena’s grave.

Kimberly Weber, Ortiz’s attorney, urged the judge to place him on probation instead of sending him to prison.

“This is nothing but a tragedy,” Weber said. “I look at Mrs. Pena. I’m a mother of an 18-year-old myself. I can’t imagine what she is going through.”

Karren sentenced Ortiz to 30 days in the Benton County Jail — with credit for two days served — and 10 years of probation.

Karren said Ortiz had not committed any criminal offenses either before or since his 2019 arrest. There was no testimony concerning Ortiz being intoxicated at the time of the shooting or having any malice toward Pena.

Karren scheduled a hearing for Dec. 2 to discuss Ortiz paying restitution for a headstone for Pena.

Ortiz