MIAMI – A man believed to have been involved in a shootout with police who were busting a marijuana grow house in Miami accepted a plea deal Tuesday morning.
Luis Estevanell pleaded guilty to all eight counts and will spend 10 years in federal prison with credit for time served.
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Estevanell has been in jail since July 2012.
According to prosecutors, Estevanell diverted an officer's attention away from his friend, Gerard Delgado, who jumped out of a parked car and started shooting at officers and FBI agents who were responding to a tip that residents were operating a marijuana grow house.
"He didn't try to help me, try to give me aide," Detective John Saavedra, who was shot in the incident, told a judge in 2013. "On the contrary, he's (Estevanell) attacking me as I'm bleeding out. When I hit the ground, he punched me, kicked me, then lunged at me and grabbed my rosary off my neck, knocking my firearm out of my hand. That's when I began planning my escape route, my escape from any further harm -- him possibly killing me with my firearm."
Attorneys representing Estevanell said their client took cover when the shooting started and never attacked Saavedra.
Delgado was killed in the shootout.
Police said that 80 pounds of marijuana, worth about $90,000, were found inside the grow house.
Estevanell will be on probation for 10 years after his release.
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