Placer County father and son convicted in deadly Rocklin road rage confrontation
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- Blake Anthony Rakela pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter.
- Rakela’s father pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge.
- The father and son were convicted in a deadly Rocklin road rage confrontation last year.
A Placer County father and son were convicted on Monday after agreeing to a plea deal for their roles in a deadly Rocklin road rage confrontation in which a man was beaten with a metal wrench.
Blake Anthony Rakela, 21, and his father Anthony David Rakela, 61, both of Rocklin, returned Monday morning to Placer Superior Court. A criminal grand jury last year indicted the Rakelas in the March 2025 death of 55-year-old Jeremy Styles. Both men had pleaded not guilty to the felony charges.
Blake Rakela was indicted on a murder charge along with a sentencing enhancement alleging he used a deadly weapon — the wrench — in the homicide. For the past 13 months, he has been held in custody at the Placer County Jail.
His father, Anthony Rakela, was accused of assisting his son in the violent crime. The father, who remains free on $50,000 bail, was indicted on two felony charges: assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.
On Monday, the court unsealed an amended indictment filed by the Placer County District Attorney’s Office. The amended indictment was filed after the defendants and the prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that would resolve the homicide case.
Blake Rakela, with his attorney Linda Parisi in court, pleaded no contest to the lesser homicide charge of voluntary manslaughter for Styles’ death. He also admitted to the enhancement for using a deadly weapon — the wrench — in the crime.
Deputy District Attorney David Tellman, who prosecuted the Rakelas, told the judge that Blake Rakela will be sentenced to four years in prison, three years for the manslaughter charge and one year for the weapon enhancement, as part of the plea agreement.
Blake Rakela will receive credit for spending more than a year in the county jail awaiting trial.
David Rakela, with his attorney Jessica Graves at his side, pleaded no contest to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors will formally drop the other felony charge against him at his sentencing next month.
Judge Colleen Nichols said David Rakela will be sentenced to 90 days of probation for the misdemeanor charge.
Tellman told the judge he has had “abundant and robust” conversations with Syles’ family, including his widow Carla Combe, about the plea agreement with the Rakelas. He said the victim’s family is in agreement with the plea deal. The prosecutor said the resolution in the homicide case “does justice by holding the defendant accountable.”
The Rakelas spoke in court briefly on Monday to enter their no contest pleas and to tell the judge they understood their rights and were waiving their right to a jury trial.
The judge scheduled the Rakelas to return to court Aug. 4 for their sentencing. Blake Rakela remains in jail custody; his father remains free on bail.
In bail review hearings over the past year, Parisi has asked the court to set bail and allow her client to be released while the criminal case proceeds. In June, Judge Jeffrey Penney said Blake Rakela would pose a threat to the public if he were to be released from jail.
Parisi argued that Blake Rakela acted in self-defense and was protecting his girlfriend and father, who were both present with him when Styles allegedly threatened them while holding a tire iron. Parisi said the facts of the confrontation showed “no evidence of malice.”
Styles died after the confrontation, which was reported about 8:45 p.m. March 15, 2025, at the intersection of Whitney Ranch Parkway and Whitney Oaks Drive in a residential neighborhood southwest of McCormick Park in Rocklin.
The prosecutor has argued that Blake Rakela was wielding “a very large wrench” when he attacked Styles, taking multiple swings and “ultimately killing him with a baseball-style swing to the head.”
The defense attorney argued that the fatal confrontation was the result of “a heated quarrel” or imperfect self-defense. Last summer, Parisi asked Judge Colleen Nichols to reduce Blake Rakela’s murder charge to voluntary manslaughter. The judge denied the request.
The prosecutor argued that Styles’ death was more than a confrontation. Tellman said that Blake Rakela “stalked” Styles, chasing his vehicle and calling his father for assistance before the two confronted Styles. Tellman said video evidence shows “a long cooling-off” period before Rakela caught up to Styles and met up with his father at the Rocklin intersection where the violent confrontation occurred.
