Former West Hollywood Sheriff's Deputy Pleads No Contest In Off-Duty Killing

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA -- A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy pleaded no contest Tuesday to second-degree murder for the off-duty shooting death of his son's neighbor in Sylmar nearly five years ago.

Francisco Gamez Jr., 45, was immediately sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison following his plea to second-degree murder for the June 17, 2012, killing of Armando Casillas, and the attempted murder of a second man who escaped injury, according to Deputy District Attorney Rosa Alarcon.

Gamez had been set to go on trial March 1 in connection with the killing.

Gamez confronted Casillas and another man after Casillas fought with the deputy's 20-year-old son, who called his father, according to the prosecutor.

Gamez was arrested in November 2012 by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide Division, and has remained behind bars since then.

At the time, he was a 17-year veteran of the sheriff's department who had been assigned to the West Hollywood station since 2005.

-- City News SErvice, photo via Shutterstock