Man arrested in Sacramento County homicide, several weeks after release from prison
A Los Angeles County man recently released from state prison has been arrested on suspicion of homicide following a deadly shooting Saturday night in North Highlands, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday night.
Michael Xavier Bell, 36, was arrested Sunday in connection with the death of 60-year-old Antonio Manning, who was fatally shot around 9:50 p.m. Saturday in the 6300 block of Whitecliff Way, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s officials in an earlier statement said Manning had been stabbed, but in a Wednesday news release said he died of a gunshot wound.
Bell was booked early Monday morning into the Sacramento County Main Jail downtown on a charge of murder and of resisting executive officers, jail logs show. He is ineligible for bail.
The Sheriff’s Office in a news release said Bell is a registered sex offender with a criminal history that includes a Los Angeles County judge once sentencing him to 53 years to life in prison.
A Los Angeles County jury found Bell guilty of multiple counts of robbery, rape, oral copulation, kidnapping and assault following a spree of crimes committed in 2000, when he was 14 years old.
Southern California prosecutors said Bell had been released from prison less than three months prior to Saturday night’s slaying, his sentence shortened under a recently passed, controversial law changing how the state handles juvenile defendants.
The Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys, in a Wednesday news release condemning Bell’s reduced sentence, said Bell was released due to Senate Bill 1391, a California law that took effect in 2019 prohibiting 14- and 15-year-old defendants from being transferred from juvenile to criminal court. SB 1391 was upheld by an appeals court later that year, and ruled constitutional by the California Supreme Court in 2021.
Bell had been out of prison custody for 73 days at the time of Saturday’s homicide, according to the deputy district attorneys association.
The Sheriff’s Office said no further information was available regarding the circumstances or motive of Saturday’s homicide in North Highlands, but that there are no outstanding suspects.
Bell was arraigned Tuesday, and is next due to appear Oct. 24 in Sacramento Superior Court.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 9:45 AM.
