A Bakersfield man has pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for shooting a suspected gang member outside his house on Lincoln and King streets.

Luis Ortega-Romero says he was acting in self defense last year after Ernesto Venegas threatened his wife and slashed the tires on his car, but attorney Clayton Campbell says his client took the deal to avoid a long prison sentence. Ortega-Romero believed Venegas wanted to intimidate his wife, who was a witness in a burglary case.

He faces a year in jail at his March sentencing.

Kelli Pierce