CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) - A deadly confrontation inside a grocery store in 2022 ended with a decades-long sentence for the man who pulled the trigger.
Osmel Gutierrez, 56, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of manslaughter for the death of 50-year-old Franklyn Pineyro.
According to an arrest report, Gutierrez opened fire during an argument with Pineyro at the lottery ticket line. The argument was about to get physical when, police said, Gutierrez pulled out a pistol and shot Pineyro, striking him in the chest.
Following the sentencing, the victim’s family wiped away tears in the courtroom’s hallway as they said justice had been served.
“It’s been difficult; it has been such a really long, long process, but the comfort I have is that justice has been served, and in his memory. His son really loved him. We still really love him because it’s such a tremendous loss, but justice has been served,” said the victim’s widow in Spanish.
She added that she is satisfied with the sentencing.
“Twenty years is good,” she said in Spanish.
But Daniel Izquierdo, Gutierrez’s lawyer, said he and his client were not expecting such a high sentence.
“We felt that the sentence was a little high, given the jury having come back to the lesser included charge of manslaughter, acknowledging that this was not a murder, this was not something done out of malice or ill will, hatred or spite,” he said
Izquierdo added that Gutierrez was emotional after the horrific incident.
“As Mr. Gonzalez said during the hearing, remorse is something that, from his interrogation, the night of this incident up until what everyone got to see in court today, Mr. Gutierrez has expressed tremendous remorse,” he said.
Right before hearing his fate, Gutierrez expressed regret for the incident.
“I’ve never been a criminal. Mr. Pineyro was not my enemy, I don’t have any enemies,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I’m not a monster, not a bad person. I was scared. I’m sorry for the pain I caused you. I can’t imagine the pain you’ve felt since that very first day.”
And the victim’s widow told the judge about her pain.
“I lost my husband. My son lost his father. He loved his son, his family,” she said in Spanish through an interpreter. “This moment has made a mark on our lives forever.”
But despite Gutierrez’s final plea, Judge Christine Hernandez would have the last word and sentenced him to decades behind bars.
“Mr. Gutierrez, the jury having found you guilty of manslaughter with a weapon, the court is going to impose a 20-year state prison sentence,” the judge said.
“There’s no debating what happened that day. It was a tragedy for both families,” said Izquierdo.
As of Wednesday evening, it remains unclear if Gutierrez and his lawyer will take any further action.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.