A Carlsbad man will serve six years in prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the Feb. 16, 2020, death of Estevan Daniel Castillo.
Rodney Drew Amos Jr., 21, was sentenced Aug. 25 by 5th Judicial District Judge Lisa Riley, per court records.
Amos will serve more than five years in the New Mexico Department of Corrections system and will be on parole for two years once the sentence is complete, court records indicated.
Castillo was found unconscious and not breathing by Carlsbad Police Department officers at an apartment complex in the 600 block of Orchard Street, according to the criminal complaint filed against Amos.
Castillo was transported to Carlsbad Medical Center and later air lifted to El Paso for advanced treatment, and died during the flight, the criminal complaint read.
According to the criminal complaint, Castillo was injured in an altercation with Amos who punched him in the left side of the head, causing Castillo to fall to the ground. Amos told an officer he didn’t mean to hit Castillo “that hard,” per the criminal complaint.
In addition to being sentenced for voluntary manslaughter, Riley sentenced Amos to nearly two years in prison Aug. 26 after he pleaded no contest to unrelated charges of shooting at or from a motor vehicle and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records.
Amos will be on parole for two years once his prison term ends, per court records.
Amos also pleaded no contest to a charge of trafficking controlled substances. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, three years of which were suspended, and he was given credit for 193 days pre-sentence confinement, for a total of five years in prison, per court records.
