TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who came to the U.S. from Mexico illegally as a teen is facing up to 10 years in prison for having a gun that he said he used to kill someone in self-defense.
Court records show that 34-year-old Juan Carlos Ramirez-Arcos pleaded guilty Wednesday in Tampa federal court to possessing a firearm or ammunition as an illegal alien. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 19.
Authorities say Ramirez-Arcos fatally shot Jose Luis Mendoza-Aguilar during a confrontation in Bradenton in October 2015. Ramirez-Arcos was tried for murder in state court in 2017, but jurors agreed that he acted in self-defense.
Authorities say U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Ramirez-Arcos several weeks after his acquittal.
Ramirez-Arcos’s defense attorney, Richard Reinhart, told the Bradenton Herald that the prosecution of a man defending himself was pathetic.
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