{"id":27350,"date":"2025-10-28T19:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/27350\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T19:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:06:08","slug":"kern-county-man-faces-106-years-after-being-convicted-of-murder-and-resisting-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/27350\/","title":{"rendered":"Kern County man faces 106 years after being convicted of murder and resisting arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A man faces over 100 years in prison after being convicted of shooting and killing a man at point-blank range in May 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The Kern County District Attorney\u2019s Office said on October 17, 2025, a Kern County jury found Michael Castillo guilty of first-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest. Firearm enhancements were also found true.<\/p>\n<p>The DA\u2019s office said on October 27, 2025, the court found it true that Castillo had suffered two previous strikes. In addition, the court found three factors in aggravation true: that the defendant engaged in behavior that presents a danger to society, that the defendant has suffered numerous previous convictions, and that the defendant has previously served time in prison.<\/p>\n<p>According to the DA\u2019s office, in the late evening hours on May 15, 2022, Castillo and Francisco Rodriguez left an illegal internet casino on North Chester Avenue in Bakersfield. Surveillance footage showed Castillo walking with  Rodriguez down the street to the Tacos La Villa.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/arrest-made-in-homicide-on-n-chester-avenue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Arrest made in homicide on N. Chester Avenue<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once the two were behind the restaurant, Castillo pulled a .40 caliber handgun out and shot Rodriguez at point-blank range, according to the DA\u2019s office. Castillo left the scene and his home.<\/p>\n<p>While on the run, Castillo tried to enlist his neighbors and friends to engage in countersurveillance of undercover officers, according to the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>The attempts were unsuccessful, and deputies were able to find Castillo.<\/p>\n<p>On May 25, 2022, deputies found Castillo in the 2300 block of North Inyo Street. After obtaining a warrant for his arrest and calling for him to exit the residence, Castillo left and led deputies on a chase. A canine deputy assisted the Sheriff\u2019s Office in apprehending Castillo.<\/p>\n<p>A search of the home resulted in an AR-15 that Castillo had possessed.<\/p>\n<p>District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer commented by saying, \u201cDespite Castillo\u2019s efforts, he could not evade law enforcement or justice. The gravity of his crime ensures consequences he cannot avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Castillo\u2019s sentencing is scheduled for January 15, 2026, where he is facing up to 106 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A man faces over 100 years in prison after being convicted of shooting and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-27350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}