Steffen Tidwell was sentenced to 8 to 20 years in state prison for the voluntary manslaughter of Jomar Almestica, an innocent bystander shot during an argument outside a family barbecue in Lancaster. The killing occurred in 2021, but Tidwell's sentencing came after a 2025 conviction. Almestica, a father of three, died from his injuries shortly after the shooting.
On Thursday, Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Judge Dennis Reinaker sentenced 31-year-old Steffen Tidwell to 8 to 20 years in state prison and ordered him to pay $8,000 in restitution for the death of 26-year-old Jomar Almestica. Tidwell had been convicted in October 2025 of voluntary manslaughter and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure in connection with the August 20, 2021, incident on Hebrank Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles west of Philadelphia. Around 10 p.m., Tidwell became involved in a tense argument with someone at a family barbecue, retrieved a handgun from his car, and fired five shots at Almestica, who was not part of the dispute and was on the porch or steps of a nearby residence, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office. Lancaster City Police arrived at 10:15 p.m. and rushed Almestica to a hospital, where he died an hour later. Tidwell claimed self-defense, saying he thought Almestica was reaching for a gun, but prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Collo, maintained the victim was uninvolved and unarmed. The jury rejected more serious murder charges. During sentencing, Tidwell apologized to Almestica's family, calling the victim a 'precious life' and expressing remorse for the 'pain and trauma' he caused, while vowing personal change after years in pretrial detention. Collo questioned his remorse, asking the court, 'What is justice if the price of one man's progress is another man's life?' Almestica's mother described her son in a letter as a 'good, humble and simple boy' who loved fishing and his three children, now fatherless. A family member added, 'He was a son who cared. He was a father who mattered.' Almestica was an aspiring musician known as 'J-Easy LP.'