Fredi Rivera will serve 21 years in prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter for the September 2023 fatal shooting of gay rights activist Daniel Landeros in Bakersfield’s Yokuts Park.
While Rivera, 29, agreed to the plea deal — downgraded from an initial first-degree murder charge — he refused to admit guilt in the 43-year-old’s death, according to Bakersfield NBC affiliate KGET.
The plea deal makes it more difficult to bring civil lawsuits against Rivera, for whom a guilty plea would have served as a formal admission of fault in Landeros’s death.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Tiffany Organ-Bowles accepted Rivera’s plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 17.
Deputy District Attorney Brandon Stallings, the prosecutor in the case, accepted the deal after citing potential difficulties in proving the necessary “mental state” for a first-degree murder conviction. Under the agreement, Rivera’s sentence will count as a serious and “violent strike” on his criminal record.
According to KGET, Landeros was walking with a friend through Yokuts Park after celebrating his birthday on the night of September 18, 2023, when he was allegedly approached by Rivera, who reportedly directed a homophobic slur at the activist.
Landeros’s friend told police that he waited on a nearby park bench while the two men argued. Soon after, he heard a single gunshot and saw Landeros stumble toward him before a dark-colored SUV sped away. Landeros was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police identified the suspect’s vehicle as a black 2006-07 Hummer H3, which they eventually linked to Rivera. According to court filings, Rivera was on probation for grand theft at the time. He was ultimately arrested on October 4, 2023.
Investigators noted that Rivera had been at Yokuts Park — a location known for a high volume of gay activity — suggesting he may have gone there intentionally. Nonetheless, he was never charged with a hate crime in addition to the initial murder charge.
Lisa Cruz, Landeros’s sister, previously told Bakersfield CBS affiliate KBAK that she believed her brother’s murder was premeditated and intentional because of his sexual orientation. “That was my family. You know, I’m supposed to protect him, but he was taken from me,” she said.
Audrey Chavez, a friend of Landeros, told KGET that she and others had pushed police to investigate the murder as a hate crime. She added that she didn’t believe it was justice for prosecutors in the county — one of California’s most politically conservative environs — to fail to bring hate crime charges against Rivera.
“I know there’s a lot of us in the community who loved Daniel and he worked for a lot of different organizations, a lot of different schools, a lot of different circles,” Chavez said. “We’ll miss him dearly.”
In a surprise appearance on Sunday, Nicki Minaj addressed Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025, an annual conference aimed at younger MAGA activists, where she reaffirmed her recent anti-transgender views.
The rapper built her career with the help of a deeply devoted fanbase known as “Barbz,” many of whom are gay men. At the event, the “Super Bass” singer repeated the phrase “Boys, be boys” while seated on stage beside conservative lightning-rod Erika Kirk.
She continued her attacks on California Governor Gavin Newsom at the December 21 event, while offering effusive praise for the president and vice president.
The United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis in the United States, has quietly banned transgender athletes from competing in women's events.
As first reported by independent journalist Marisa Kabas in her newsletter The Handbasket, the USTA revised its "Player Eligibility Policy" page on October 25 with no prior warning or public announcement.
Under the revised policy -- which applies to all sex-specific junior and adult leagues, tournaments, and competitions, whether Olympic, professional, or recreational -- only athletes who meet the USTA's definition of a woman or girl may compete in events designated for women or girls.
During the recent federal shutdown, the Trump administration changed the name on Rachel Levine's portrait at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, replacing her legal name with her pre-transition one.
Levine made history in 2021 as the first out transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a sub-cabinet role, serving nearly four years as Assistant Secretary of Health in the Biden administration and later becoming a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Levine’s portrait hangs on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., alongside those of others who have led the U.S. Public Health Service. She has offered little commentary on the deadnaming, telling NPR it was an honor to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health. "I'm not going to comment on this type of petty action," she said.
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