Trending
Vasilios Pentsas Jr., 36, of Altoona, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to a killing that occurred 20 months ago in an alley on the 100 block of Crawford Avenue.
Pentsas was charged by Altoona police with shooting Andrew Ozio, 29, after the two had an ongoing spat over a marijuana deal.
According to facts revealed before Blair County Judge Wade A. Kagarise, Pentsas was upset over the quality of the marijuana Ozio provided and refused to pay the $400 he allegedly owed.
Ozio went to Pentsas' home to collect the money, but when Ozio determined Pentsas was not there, he went into the garage where a friend of Pentsas' was working on a car.
Using a metal pipe, Ozio, it was contended, gave Pentsas' friend a "severe" beating, according to Altoona attorney John Sisto, who represented Pentsas during Tuesday's hearing.
When Pentsas was informed of the assault, and realized he was the intended victim, he eventually went to the area near Ozio's home, and using a .40-caliber handgun, shot Ozio in the head, the neck and the chest, killing him.
A witness was able to identify Pentsas fleeing from the scene of the shooting and getting into a car.
Police arrested Pentsas and charged him with 13 separate offenses, including murder of the first degree, murder of the third degree, terroristic threats, aggravated assault and several firearms offenses.
The gun charges included firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of a firearm prohibited and possession of a firearm with the manufacturer's number altered.
Pentsas has been in the Blair County Prison awaiting trial since he was arrested on Nov. 10, 2020.
The hearing before Kagarise was to be a pretrial review of the evidence.
The defense had filed a motion to exclude some of the evidence from the trial.
However, the attorneys, including Sisto, Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks and First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith, began meetings with the Judge, and with each other.
After about three hours of back-and-forth negotiation -- and several meetings in a closed courtroom between Sisto and Pentsas -- a plea deal was struck.
The attorneys covered their bases as well with the prosecution attorneys discussing the deal with Altoona police detectives and Ozio family members.
The police were in agreement with the plea deal.
A sister of the victim indicated the impact of her brothers' death has been so traumatic that she did not want to enter the courtroom where she could see Pensas.
It was reported to the judge that the sister's husband thought Pentsas should receive a stiffer sentence but agreed the plea deal should move ahead.
Kagarise then called Pentsas before the court and asked him if he wanted to accept the deal.
He said he did.
The judge at one point asked him if he needed more time to discuss the issues of the case with his attorney and he seemed to agree he could use more time, however he agreed to go forward with the deal after Kagarise indicated that he would halt the proceedings if Pentsas said he wanted more time.
Pentsas then agreed his plea was "knowing, intelligent and voluntary" when asked by Kagarise.
The judge then imposed separate sentences for murder in the third degree, terroristic threats, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of a firearm prohibited, possession of a firearm with an altered number, tampering with evidence and purchase of a controlled substance.
The sentences were to be served concurrently, or at the same time.
Kagarise also indicated that Pentsas would be under supervision for one year following the completion of his prison sentence.
Sisto after the hearing called the whole situation a "tragic event."
He said that if someone had just called 911 following Ozio's initial attack on the worker in the garage, Pentsas would not have been in the courtroom Tuesday.
"It was an emotional time, an emotional situation. Unfortunately, he reacted emotionally. He let his emotions get the best of him. ... This is a tragedy for both families."
Pentsas is the father of two children and still wants to have a part in their lives, Sisto said.
Sisto said he spent a great deal of time going over the case with Pentsas and he told the judge he and his client were "on the same page" when it came to the plea agreement.
While Ozio's sister, Natasha, was unable to come into the courtroom,
Smith reported she too was emotionally impacted by her brother's death, and stated she could not handle the idea of facing Pentsas in the courtroom.
Weeks said he compromised by agreeing to reduce the main charge from first- to third-degree murder, but he pointed out that the two men knew each other and they each threatened the other.
He said he was concerned how a jury would look at the situation and the way events unfolded that day.
Weeks was asked if he knew where Pentsas had gotten the firearm with the serial number filed off.
He said police had not been able to trace the weapon up to this point.
Despite the plea by Pentsas, Weeks said his office still has six homicide cases awaiting trial.