A 43-year-old man was sentenced to 32 years in state prison for fatally shooting another man after an argument over parking at a North Long Beach apartment complex in 2023, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Roland Barber pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Jan. 13 and was immediately sentenced by Long Beach Superior Court Judge James D. Otto, court records show.
Barber was convicted by a jury of shooting into an inhabited dwelling and being a felon in possession of a firearm for a separate shooting after a trial that ended in June. But jurors deadlocked, 11-1 favoring guilt, on a second-degree murder charge related to the fatal shooting of 35-year-old David Nevarez on June 16, 2023 — leading the judge to declare a mistrial on that count.
Barber’s change of plea came before a potential second trial on the second-degree murder charge.
During last year’s trial, Deputy District Attorney Jacqueline Mac told jurors that Barber shot Nevarez within the Pacific Cove Condominiums, in the 5500 block of Ackerfield Avenue, after they had argued about Barber’s parking spot outside the complex.
Mac presented evidence during trial that Barber had been upset that visitors to a neighbor’s apartment had either been parking in his space or blocking it. Barber lived there with his wife and children
Following the shooting, a 911 caller reported seeing a suspect using a cane with his face covered up, Mac said. Barber was known among his neighbors to use a cane.
Barber was driven away from the complex by a friend then returned the following morning after his wife texted him that police had wrapped up their investigation for the night, Mac said.
Two weeks later, Barber was shot at by a Nevarez friend after Barber parked his car at the complex, Mac said. In response, Barber grabbed a handgun, walked up to the neighbor’s apartment and fired rounds inside. Barber was seen with a gun when police arrived and officers found it inside his apartment.
Barber’s attorney, Ludlow Creary, argued during the trial that the neighboring apartment Barber feuded with had been rented and visited by Los Angeles-area gang members who were using “passive aggression” and “agitation” to try and take over the complex.
Creary said Nevarez followed Barber after the argument that night and the lawyer argued that if jurors thought there was evidence he was the shooter, it was voluntary manslaughter because Barber was provoked.
Isaac Garcia, the man who fired at Barber in retaliation for Nevarez’s killing, pleaded no contest to attempted murder in October 2023 and was sentenced to 14 years in state prison, court records show.