Crime & Safety

Porter Ranch Man Faces Sentencing in Pal's Death

David Andrew Armstrong pleaded guilty in September to involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of his friend.

A Porter Ranch businessman faces sentencing Wednesday morning in the fatal shooting of a childhood friend who was an NBCUniversal executive.

pleaded guilty in September to involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of 32-year-old , following a small St. Patrick's Day party this year. Kaplon, a longtime friend of Armstrong's, worked as a digital distribution executive for NBCUniversal.

As part of a plea deal, Armstrong admitted the special allegation of personally using a firearm in the killing.

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Armstrong could receive anywhere from probation to 14 years in state prison when he is sentenced by Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell at the San Fernando courthouse.

Defense attorney James Blatt previously said his client "has always contended this was an accident."

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Kaplon had gone to Armstrong's home in the gated Sorrento neighborhood in Porter Ranch on the night of March 18 to visit his friend, Blatt said.

Armstrong was showing Kaplon an AR-15, a civilian version of the M16 rifle, in his garage at about 12:45 a.m. when the weapon discharged, striking Kaplon in the chest, the attorney said.

Blatt said both men had been drinking.

The men's wives were best friends, Blatt said, and the husbands had known each other since the fifth grade.

Armstrong was initially charged with murder, which could have brought a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

But even with the guilty plea, "there is no indication which way the judge will go," Blatt said.

Kaplon's widow has said she is not satisfied with the plea deal. The couple had a toddler daughter at the time of the shooting, and she was pregnant with twins.

"Nothing's going to bring Brian back," Kristi Kaplon said. "I mean, his children also miss him. The 3-year-old has separation issues. ... Nothing they can ever do to Dave will be justice enough for me, nothing."

—City News Service


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