BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Shafter man accused of choking a co-worker unconscious has been released from custody and faces hundreds of hours of community service after pleading no contest to two felonies. A charge of attempted murder was dismissed.

District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Daniela Gonzaga said the court indicated Clayton Unruh will be sentenced to 360 hours of community service after pleading no contest to felony counts of assault and making criminal threats. A sentencing hearing is scheduled in August.

Unruh’s attorney, Mark Anthony Raimondo, said the charges stemmed from a fight in which choking “may have occurred in the heat of battle.”

“There was no intent to kill,” Raimondo said. “One guy got the better of another guy during a fight.”

The incident happened the afternoon of June 10 in McKittrick.

According to a probable cause declaration, Unruh grabbed the co-worker by the throat and squeezed, telling him, “I’m going to kill you, I know where you live.”

The co-worker told investigators he blacked out and woke up on the ground.

Unruh, who has no prior criminal record, told his boss what happened then went home and waited for police to arrive, Raimondo said. The attorney said the other man, when filling out a restraining order days later, claimed to have no injuries from the altercation.

This is a follow up of the story: https://www.raimondolaw.com/im-going-to-kill-you-man-accused-of-choking-co-worker/

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Bakersfield Police Department arrested 26-year-old Eliezer Camacena-Martinez in connection to the hit-and-run crash that killed Estella Andino.

• Video shows the family of Estella Andino mourning and a memorial at the site of her death.
• Serina Valdivia, Andino’s daughter, says her family hopes to see the man responsible taken into custody and put behind bars for a long time.

Marina Johnson tells me… her mom, Estella Andino, used to push her on the swings as a kid at Wayside Park.

Now, she does the same with her son who she says will never get the chance to grow up with his grandmother.

“She has four daughters, and none of us thought we’d have to bury our mothers before the age of 30, and we should have had to,” Jesmin Andino-Stevens, Andino’s daughter, said.

The Bakersfield Police Department confirmed their officers arrested 26-year-old Eliezer Camacena-Martinez on Wednesday in connection to the crash, which happened on April 13th.

“It’s hard I just keep on thinking of how they told us she was screaming for help,” Johnson said. “How could you if you had a heart, how could you just leave her there?”

I reached out to Camacena-Martinez, who told me over the phone, the collision was an accident, but Estella Miranda, Andino’s mother, disagrees.

“How could it be an accident if you hit somebody, run them over and keep going? That’s not an accident,” Miranda said.

Camacena also confirms he was arrested and released on bail.

“I’m never gonna see my daughter, so why should be be out in the streets,” Miranda added.

Camacena referred me to his lawyer, saying he didn’t want to speak about the case any further.

“I will let you know our client has no prior criminal record and he has a lot of empathy and concern for the family for what has happened to them,” Mark Anthony Raimondo said.

According to BPD, of the eight pedestrian deaths in 2024, seven of them were hit and run crashes.

Compared to a year ago, BPD reports 17 pedestrian deaths with 4 hit and run crashes.

“The crime is not hitting the lady,” Raimondo said. “I think the accident was a combination of maybe both their faults, if not all her fault. The crime is if you leave the scene knowing you’ve been in an accident and that’s what we’re investigating at this time.”

Serina Valdivia, Andino’s daughter, says her family hopes to see the man responsible taken into custody and put behind bars for a long time.

“Just like he didn’t stop, we’re not gonna stop,” she said.

According to court records, no charges have been filed against Camacena so far.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury on Tuesday acquitted one man and found another guilty of involuntary manslaughter instead of murder in the death of a Ridgecrest man in 2022.

Both men had faced life terms in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

Brian Coykendall, 34, was convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

His co-defendant, Erwin Moore Jr., 30, was acquitted and expected to be released from custody Tuesday evening.

They were accused of killing Matthew Ian Peterson on March 4, 2022. Peterson, 43, was severely beaten and shot once in the back of the head.

Deputy Public Defender T. Alan Rogers, Coykendall’s attorney, said the maximum his client faces is four years in prison.

“He’s relieved the nightmare is over,” Rogers said.

Rogers said his argument from the beginning was that Coykendall acted either in self-defense or imperfect self-defense against someone with a record of violence who had previously threatened him. Peterson was a convicted felon.

The attorney noted Coykendall is a veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“(The Kern County Public Defender’s Office) has always been willing to stand by veterans, even as they face the most serious charges and consequences,” Rogers said.

“He’s relieved the nightmare is over,” Rogers said.

Rogers said his argument from the beginning was that Coykendall acted either in self-defense or imperfect self-defense against someone with a record of violence who had previously threatened him. Peterson was a convicted felon.

The attorney noted Coykendall is a veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“(The Kern County Public Defender’s Office) has always been willing to stand by veterans, even as they face the most serious charges and consequences,” Rogers said.

The attorney said he accompanied Moore to a meeting with prosecutors two years ago in which Moore told them exactly what happened. No deal was offered.

Moore went through “two years of hell” sitting in Lerdo Jail and waiting for trial, Raimondo said. Now he can start getting his life back in order, the attorney said.

“Justice is still alive in Kern County, thanks to our jurors,” he said.

Prosecutor Christine Antonios said homicide cases are often challenging because one side is no longer alive to tell their story.

Full story here: https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/verdicts-reached-in-ridgecrest-murder-trial/

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Brian Coykendall and Matthew Peterson were once friends.

But when Peterson went to prison, Coykendall began dating his girlfriend. They lived in the same Ridgecrest home where Peterson previously lived, and where Coykendall stayed so often he was practically a roommate.

They kept their relationship a secret from him.

A few months later, when Peterson was released, Coykendall began formulating a plan, a prosecutor said Friday.

It included asking a neighbor to turn off surveillance cameras so Coykendall would have “plausible deniability” in case “something happened,” according to Deputy District Attorney Christine Antonios.

Something did happen — police arrived at a report of shots fired on March 4, 2022, and found Peterson face down in the street, his hands bound, blood pooled around him.