Sisters woman’s killer to be sentenced

The man who shot and killed Jenny Cashwell of Sisters a year ago will be sentenced on January 14, after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month.

Alan Peter Porciello was indicted in January 2019 on charges of first-degree manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon after he shot Cashwell in the chest with a 9mm pistol at the Cedar West Apartments in Bend on January 12. The two had met on an online dating site and were on a first date.

Court documents filed by prosecutors report that Porciello called 911 on his phone and admitted shooting Cashwell in the chest, stating that he was “being facetious, acting like I was going to shoot her, and accidentally did.” According to prosecutors, Porciello “was arrested at the scene, and told law enforcement, ‘I can’t believe what I have done now,’ and, ‘After this, I am definitely getting rid of my guns.’”

Porciello pleaded guilty to a reduced manslaughter charge after prosecutors filed a motion seeking to bring a prior incident into his scheduled trial. In that 2015 incident, Porciello allegedly became angry at his then-fiancé and pointed a gun at her.

In pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter — manslaughter caused by recklessness — Porciello faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison with a presumptive sentence of 75 months (just over six years). First-degree manslaughter — showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life” — carries a maximum 20-year sentence and a presumptive sentence of 10 years.

Porciello reportedly had a traumatic brain injury as the result of two car crashes. After the second accident in particular, he allegedly displayed “lack of impulse control, and anger outbursts.”

Prosecutors noted that Bend Police had issued a BOLO (“be on the lookout”) report on Porciello on January 10, 2019, two days before the shooting, because “support service workers believed (Porciello’s) anger and agitation were ramping up and they were concerned.”

Cashwell, who was 37 when she was killed, lived east of Sisters and worked at what is now Bisnett Insurance. She left two daughters. She was crowned the Deschutes County Rodeo Queen in 1998 with her horse, Bo Wrangler. Her family recalled that, “Her love of animals was apparent, as you could often find her outside of work feeding the squirrels. She loved anything with fur — horses, squirrels, and especially dogs. She was a fierce advocate of animal welfare and adoption.”

Cashwell was an active lifter at Level 5 CrossFit Sisters, which has held memorial lifting events as fundraisers to assist her family.

Cashwell’s friend and fellow lifter Cenobia Gonzalez posted to social media encouraging people impacted by the loss of Cashwell to send letters of impact to Judge Ashby, who will be passing sentence.

“I think this is extremely important as a community member or relative to how this mentally impacts Piper, Kayla, the family and the rest of us who expect more from our justice system and to be protected,” she wrote.