BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury on Friday found a man guilty of second-degree murder in connection to a deadly shooting in east Bakersfield seven years ago.<\/p>\n
The jury found Michael Angel Cervantes not guilty of first-degree murder, instead convicting him on the lesser charge.<\/p>\n
Jurors also returned guilty verdicts on charges of possession of a gun by a felon and resisting a peace officer.<\/p>\n
Cervantes faces a life term in prison.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Felicia Nagle said at trial Cervantes, 33, killed Bryan Lee Redman during an altercation early on May 26, 2019.<\/p>\n
Cervantes’ vehicle stopped on Tony Street and a passenger, Veronica Perez, got out, jumped a fence into Redman’s driveway and argued with him, Nagle said. The two had prior run-ins.<\/p>\n
Nagle said Cervantes got out, calmly walked toward Redman then fired multiple rounds, hitting him. Perez and Cervantes then fled the scene, leaving Redman dying, she said.<\/p>\n
Perez was arrested 11 hours after the shooting, and Cervantes was taken into custody on June 7, 2019, after a foot chase during which he tossed a gun, Nagle said.<\/p>\n
“He ran because he didn’t want to be responsible for the murder,” Nagle told jurors during closing arguments. “And he also ran because he had that gun, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to be in possession of a gun because he had a prior felony conviction.”<\/p>\n
Perez eventually told investigators Cervantes was the shooter.<\/p>\n
Defense attorney Phillip Gillet has argued Cervantes should be found guilty of felon in possession of a gun and resisting a peace officer, but not murder.<\/p>\n
He said Cervantes was not a killer. Perez only identified him as one because she was upset Cervantes, with whom she had an off and on relationship, had been talking with other women.<\/p>\n
“There’s simply a lack of corroboration of what Miss Perez said,” Gillet told the jury.<\/p>\n
Gillet noted Perez hung out with a bunch of people with “unsavory reputations,” suggesting one of them could be responsible.<\/p>\n
Perez accepted a plea deal in 2022.<\/p>\n