Attorney files appeal to overturn bail ruling in Rocklin road rage murder case
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A defense attorney filed an appeal to overturn no-bail ruling for Blake Anthony Rakela.
- Rakela is accused of murder in a road rage confrontation last year in Rocklin.
- Jeremy Styles died after he was was struck by a metal wrench in the confrontation.
A defense attorney is asking a California appellate court to overturn a ruling of no bail for Blake Anthony Rakela, who is accused of murder in a Rocklin road rage confrontation.
Rakela, 20, returned Thursday morning to Placer Superior Court. He and his father, Anthony David Rakela, 60, are accused in the incident last March that resulted in the death of 55-year-old Jeremy Styles. A prosecutor has said in court that Blake Rakela used a large metal wrench to hit Styles and that his father assisted him in committing the crime.
The grand jury indicted Blake Rakela on a charge of murder along with an enhancement that alleges he used a deadly weapon (the wrench) in the crime. Anthony Rakela faces two felony charges in the grand jury indictment: assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm and assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to cause great bodily injury.
The Rakelas, of Rocklin, have both pleaded not guilty to the charges they face. Anthony Rakela remains free on $50,000 bail.
Linda Parisi, Blake Rakela’s defense attorney who also appeared on behalf of his father on Thursday, filed a writ of mandate Jan. 9 in the California Third Appellate District Court. Parisi is asking the appellate court to overturn a Placer Superior Court ruling and grant her client the opportunity to post bail and face the murder charge while out of custody.
Blake Rakela has remained in custody at the Placer County Jail since his May 15 arrest.
In a bail review hearing in June, Judge Jeffrey Penney said Blake Rakela would pose a threat to the public if he were to be released from jail and ordered that he remain ineligible for bail.
Parisi has asked the judge to set bail for her client and allow him the chance to reunite with his family while the criminal case is litigated in court. She has argued in court that Blake Rakela acted in self-defense and was protecting his girlfriend and his father who were both there when Styles threatened them while holding a tire iron.
Styles died in the incident, which was reported about 8:45 p.m. March 15 at the intersection of Whitney Ranch Parkway and Whitney Oaks Drive, in a residential neighborhood just southwest of McCormick Park.
Murder or ‘heated quarrel’?
Deputy District Attorney David Tellman has argued that Blake Rakela was wielding “a very large wrench” when he attacked Styles, taking swings at Styles, “ultimately killing him with a baseball-style swing to the head.”
While Parisi is seeking a favorable ruling in the state appellate court, she has filed another motion challenging the grand jury indictment in Placer Superior Court. At Thursday’s hearing, Parisi argued that the factual basis of the Rocklin confrontation shows “no evidence of malice.”
The defense attorney argued that the fatal confrontation was the result of “a heated quarrel” or an imperfect self-defense. Parisi is asking Judge Colleen Nichols to reduce Blake Rakela’s murder charge to voluntary manslaughter.
The prosecutor argued that Styles’ death was not just a confrontation. Tellman argued that Blake Rakela “stalked” Styles, following his vehicle and calling his father to help him before they confronted Styles. Tellman said there is video evidence “of a long cooling-off” before Rakela caught up to Styles and met up with his father at the Rocklin intersection where the confrontation occurred.
The judge told the attorneys she will take their arguments into consideration while thoroughly reviewing the defense motion. Nichols scheduled the Rakelas to return to court Feb. 23. She hopes, by then, to have issued her ruling on the challenge to the indictment.
Parisi said she also hopes the appellate court will have, by then, issued a ruling on her appeal for bail.
