Prosecutors this week dropped a murder case against a 30-year-old parolee with a lengthy criminal history who was accused of fatally shooting an acquaintance earlier this month at Hart Park in Orange.
Pedro Ignacio Amarillas Lares was charged with murder and possession of a gun by a felon with a sentencing enhancement for discharge of a gun causing death.
(Previously, authorities said his last name is Amarillaslares.)
But when investigators received subsequent evidence that indicated the shooting was in self-defense and the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt prosecutors dismissed the murder charge, authorities said.
Lares did accept a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Perez and pleaded guilty to possession of a gun and ammunition by a felon and was sentenced to four years in prison.
The fatal shooting occurred about 6:40 p.m. Aug. 4 at Hart Park, according to the Orange Police Department.
Officers responded to the scene and found the victim dead in the west portion of the park. The man was identified as 36-year-old Luis Alberto CortesMendoza, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Amarillas Lares was on parole for possession of a loaded gun and a controlled substance, police said. He was arrested after running from the area with a handgun.
Police said the suspect and the victim knew each other.
Amarillas Lares also resolved on Thursday, Aug. 20, a case for misdemeanor possession of fentanyl, according to court records.
Previously, he pleaded guilty Jan. 25, 2024, to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
Amarillas Lares was sentenced to 90 days in jail after his release when he failed to report to his parole officer, according to court records. As authorities were looking for him, the suspect’s father told investigators that his son was addicted to fentanyl and that he feared an overdose, according to a parole violation petition.
Back on Oct. 20, 2021, Amarillas Lares pleaded guilty to felony counts of robbery and grand theft as well as misdemeanor counts of possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
He pleaded guilty July 28, 2022, to burglary and identity theft for breaking into cars, according to court records.
And he also pleaded guilty, on Jan. 3, 2024, to possession of drugs while armed with a gun, possession of a gun and ammunition by a felon, carrying a loaded unregistered gun in public, and a convicted felon carrying a concealed gun in a vehicle.