The trial of 26-year-old Matthew Mejia has ended in a mistrial. Tuesday’s outcome follows three other defendants accepting plea deals in the death of Justin Brewer whose burned body was found in an orchard near Highway 166 last year. The victim was kidnapped from a home on Evening Breeze Avenue in northwest Bakersfield and killed with a hammer to the head. Mejia’s brother, 21-year-old Ernesto Lopez, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Tuesday in exchange for a five year sentence.

Sean Michael Lisle