BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County District Attorney's Office has announced in a press release that they have secured a verdict for second-degree murder in the case against Jose Luis Gutierrez Rosales.
According to court records, a jury found Rosales guilty of the second-degree murder of Hector Castaneda Vasquez while the two were at work at a farming company equipment yard on Di Giorgio Road near Lamont on April 18, 2022.
According to the DA's press release, deputies from the Kern County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the business at around 10:30 am where they found Vasquez already dead with massive blunt-force injuries to the head.
Police said witnesses told them Rosales had picked up a metal pipe and started hitting Vasquez in the face, continuing even after Vasquez fell.
Rosales fled the scene but was arrested 10 days after the assault. According to the DA's press release on the matter, Rosales told investigators that his co-workers had been teasing him due to rumors related to a previous relationship, and he claimed the humiliation became too much, causing him to lash out at Vasquez.
Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer reacted to the incident by saying workplace harassment should be heavily discouraged, but being teased, even humiliated, is not a pass to commit assault.
"Anyone who is so quick to kill based on so little provocation proves themself to be an unacceptable threat to public safety," said Zimmer. "Murder charges are appropriate when mere rumors and innuendo are countered with deadly and brutally violent acts."
A sentencing hearing for Rosales is scheduled for June 13. He faces a sentence of 15 years to life.
