BIDDEFORD —  Timothy “Tyson” Ortiz, who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter last year in connection with the 2016 death of a Biddeford man is scheduled to be sentenced at U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm earlier this year.

Ortiz, who was 25 when he was found not guilty in June 2018  in connection with the fatal shooting of Jonathan Methot of Biddeford, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm on Jan. 4.

Ortiz was banned from possessing a firearm following convictions for felony aggravated assault and furnishing drugs in Cumberland County in February 2016, according to an affidavit on file at the federal court.

Ortiz, originally of New York, faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison, followed by one to three years of supervised release and a maximum fine of as much as $250,000.

The plea agreement on file at the court  contains a non-binding recommendation by the prosecutor that Ortiz serve no more than 115 months in prison, while attorneys for the defendant will recommend no more than 92 months incarceration.

Court documents show that on Sept. 26, 2016, Ortiz was involved in an argument which led to the fatal shooting of Methot, 30, at a duplex apartment building on West Cutts Street in Biddeford. At his murder trial at York County Superior Court in Alfred in June 2018, Ortiz’ attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense after Methot continued to assault, him even after he had fired two shots that missed the victim.

Methot had arrived at the apartment at about 1 a.m. on Sept 26, 2016, upset about a $40 drug transaction that had taken place earlier that night, police said.

Ortiz went inside and got involved in the argument. Bystanders told police officers that Methot then put his hands on Ortiz’s neck.

Ortiz fired a .357 Ruger three times. One shot hit a staircase, the second shot hit a door. The third shot struck Methot, who died a short time later.

Court documents say a woman drove Ortiz and others from the scene to an apartment in Westbrook. Later that day, a search warrant was executed there, which turned up a silver Ruger .357 in the suspended ceiling of the bathroom. Witnesses later told authorities it was the same gun Ortiz had used in the shooting.

Ortiz is scheduled for sentencing at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.

— Executive editor Ed Pierce contributed to this report