LAKE MARY, Fla. – The Orange County deputy arrested in connection with the deadly Seminole County carjacking case won’t be facing any prison time.
Court records show Francisco Estrella agreed to a plea deal and a judge signed it last week. He was facing three felony charges for allegedly providing a victim’s husband with information on the deadly carjacking case.
Francisco Estrella bonded out of jail back in April. This all stems from a deadly carjacking case in Seminole County. Investigators say 31-year-old Katherine Aguasvivas was being held at gunpoint before she was later doused with lighter fluid, shot dead, and her car set on fire. Deputies say this happened after she allegedly picked up $170,000 in drug money.
According to investigators, Estrella used a law enforcement database to provide Aguasvivas’ husband with information before he was set to be interviewed by detectives. He was also accused of impersonating a high-ranking officer to get information about the carjacking from another deputy, then allegedly recorded the conversation and sent it to the victim’s husband.
Estrella was charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor, but through a plea deal, all the felonies were dropped. He’ll serve 12 months of supervised probation and community service for the misdemeanor.
Attorney Geoff Golub, a criminal trial attorney who is not involved in this case, says a plea deal is typically made when both sides feel they don’t have a strong enough case.
“You may want to go to trial because you want the jury to come back not guilty,” said Golub. “But at the same time, you don’t want to run the risk that there could be a felony conviction, or you go to prison, or you go to jail. So you want to work out something so that at least you know what’s going to happen.”
Golub believes that Estrella’s law enforcement career could have played a part in the decision.
“For him, the safest bet is to take that misdemeanor and run. Because if he gets a felony, certainly he’ll no longer have a career in law enforcement and even if he’s not in law enforcement, the felony is going to prevent him from even getting a job in security,” said Golub. “It could hurt because a lot of times that’s where police officers go. They’ll go to a security job or investigation. You don’t want the felony,” he continued.
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