BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 Nine months ago, a Bakersfield grandfather was beaten to death downtown. Two men have been charged in his death, but the victim\u2019s family is pleading for the District Attorney to file more serious charges against the suspects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that they don\u2019t care, I just feel like they don\u2019t have the time. Maybe they just have too many cases, they\u2019re trying to get these easy convictions,\u201d said Melissa Martinez, Rolando Anaya\u2019s ex-wife.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 5, 46-year-old Anaya went out for a night of laughter at a downtown comedy club. After the show, he met his brother Mario Reyes and his son Rolando Anaya Jr. at a downtown bar.<\/p>\n
Preliminary hearing set for 2 charged in death of man near The Mint <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe was just here and now he\u2019s not,\u201d said Anaya Jr. \u201cI\u2019ll never get to talk to him again. If I didn\u2019t leave him, you know, if I just stayed 30 more minutes, my dad would still be here,\u201d said Anaya Jr.<\/p>\n After his son left, Anaya stayed a little while longer before leaving himself. Anaya\u2019s family said he got into a confrontation with four others as he left The Mint bar at 19th and M streets around 1:30 a.m.<\/p>\n He was attacked near 19th and K streets. He was outnumbered, overpowered and left to die on the asphalt, the perpetrators running into the night.<\/p>\n Reyes was the first family member to see the crime scene.<\/p>\n \u201cI literally just saw my brother talking, dancing and laughing and now he\u2019s lifeless on the ground,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n The Kern County Coroner\u2019s Office said the cause of Anaya\u2019s death was blunt force trauma. It took nine months, but two arrests were made.<\/p>\n EV charging station cables containing copper wire stolen from CSUB campus <\/a><\/p>\n George Fierro, 23, is charged with assault causing great bodily injury. Mark Hernandez, 22, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault and battery.<\/p>\n \u201c(Involuntary) manslaughter isn\u2019t justice for us,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cFor him to be continuously beat as he\u2019s on the ground, not responsive, not fighting back, not conscious, and the continuous hits and stomps and kicks, that\u2019s intent.\u201d<\/p>\n The Anaya family said the DA\u2019s reasoning for not filing more severe charges is that Anaya\u2019s coroner report suggests he may have died of a heart attack.<\/p>\n But Martinez said she called the coroner\u2019s office herself.<\/p>\n \u201cThey basically tell me, the same exact way that I\u2019ve been feeling, that his manner of death is the same. It\u2019s blunt force trauma to the head and it is a homicide. Ultimately, he wouldn\u2019t have suffered a heart attack if he wasn\u2019t beaten,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n We reached out to the District Attorney\u2019s Office and spoke with the Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel. Kinzel said the charges were filed after a thorough review of all the evidence.<\/p>\n