Man deported seven times pleads guilty to murder charge

Five other charges — including kidnapping and felonious assault — were dismissed.
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An illegal immigrant who was deported seven times has pleaded guilty to the shooting death of a Hamilton man.

Fermin Garcia-Gutierrez, 48, was indicted in April 2024 on the charge of aggravated murder in the slaying of 41-year-old Fernando Reyna Oviedo. Weeks earlier, Garcia-Gutierrez was highlighted by Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones as one of several people who entered the country illegally multiple times and were deported to Mexico, but had returned.

Oviedo’s body was found on April 1, 2024, in the 1100 block of South 13th Street, and Hamilton Police believed the crime was committed two days before Garcia-Gutierrez was arrested on other charges.

Fermin Garcia-Gutierrez, pictured here in Butler County Common Pleas Court on March 13, 2025, is charged with aggravated murder, two counts of murder, kidnapping and two counts of felonious assault in the slaying of Fernando Reyna Oviedo in Hamilton. He also face a separate charge from an earlier case regarding drug abuse. A week-long trial was set to address both cases and it's to begin at 9 a.m. on May 12. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

Credit: Michael D. Pitman

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Credit: Michael D. Pitman

Garcia-Gutierrez was indicted on six charges, and on Monday, when a trial was set to begin, pleaded guilty to murder, an unclassified felony, while five other charges — including kidnapping and felonious assault — were dismissed.

Garcia-Gutierrez is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. July 10.

Jones said in April 2024 Garcia-Gutierrez had been to prison three times and deported to Mexico seven times. Earlier this year, the sheriff signed a new contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one he canceled after President Donald Trump’s election defeat in 2020. This new contract took effect in March, several weeks after Trump’s oath of office ceremony.

As of Monday, there are nearly 400 prisoners in the Butler County Jail on a hold for ICE.

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Michael D. Pitman has been a reporter in southwest Ohio since 1999. He's covered local governments in Warren and Butler counties, as well as state and national issues. He currently covers the cities of Fairfield and Hamilton.