Kern Jury Convicts Nahaman Bucato of First-Degree Murder in Taft Shooting

The verdict—and the count that ended in acquittal

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A Kern County jury convicted Nahaman Bucato of first-degree murder Friday in the September 2025 shooting death of Benjamin Alexander Bernal in Taft, according to court records reported by BakersfieldNow.

The records also show jurors found related enhancements true, including a finding that the murder was premeditated. At the same time, Bucato was acquitted of a separate charge of assault on a person with a semiautomatic firearm. Reporting both outcomes matters: a guilty verdict on one count does not turn an acquittal on another into a conviction.

Bucato is scheduled to return to court October 6 for sentencing. No sentence has been imposed, and the reviewed public reporting does not state the exact punishment the court will select or identify any post-trial motion or appeal.

Read the source: BakersfieldNow: September 4 verdict and October 6 sentencing date ↗

What the earlier investigation found

Kern County sheriff's deputies were sent to the 200 block of Philippine Street in Taft at about 3:50 a.m. on September 15, 2025. Bernal, 36, was found dead inside a home, according to the Sheriff's Office account reported days after the shooting.

The Kern County coroner later identified the victim as Benjamin Alexander Bernal of Taft. The autopsy found that he died from gunshot wounds to the head and chest and classified the death as a homicide, according to the coroner findings reported by BakersfieldNow.

Earlier court-document reporting said Bucato contacted dispatchers and said he had shot and killed someone. Deputies found him in the front yard and took him into custody without incident. A woman at the home told investigators she had been sleeping next to Bernal, awakened to a man holding a flashlight and handgun, saw four muzzle flashes and recognized Bucato, her estranged husband, as the shooter.

Those details originated in the investigation and pretrial record. Friday's verdict is the later, controlling development on the murder charge: jurors heard the evidence presented in court and returned a first-degree-murder conviction.

Read the source: BakersfieldNow: September 2025 arrest and sheriff's response ↗

What is decided and what remains open

A conviction and a sentence are different stages. The jury decided guilt on the charges submitted to it; the judge will address punishment at the scheduled sentencing hearing. Until that hearing occurs, it would be inaccurate to report a prison term as final.

The acquittal on the assault count is final at the trial level and should not be blurred into the murder conviction. The available report does not explain the factual or legal basis for the jury's different conclusions, and this article will not speculate about deliberations that were not public.

Court dates can change, so people following the case should confirm the October 6 calendar through the Kern County Superior Court. The court warns that its online case-information service does not constitute the official court record; filed documents and courtroom orders remain the authoritative sources.

Read the source: BakersfieldNow: Coroner identification and cause of death ↗

Public accountability without turning a death into spectacle

The verdict is a significant public record, but Bernal should not be reduced to the circumstances of his death. The available sources identify him as a 36-year-old Taft resident. They do not provide a fuller account of his life or his family's wishes, so this report avoids inventing personal details or using crime-scene imagery for drama.

The accompanying photograph is an authentic December 2025 image of the County of Kern Civic Center Justice Building in Bakersfield by Xnatedawgx, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. It provides geographic context for the Kern County court system and does not depict Bucato, Bernal, jurors, the Taft home, the trial or Friday's verdict.

This report will be updated if the October 6 hearing produces a sentence or if a verified court filing materially changes the case's status.

Read the source: Kern County Superior Court: Public case-information search and limitations ↗