Los Angeles County prosecutors announced charges against four people in connection with actor Johnny Wactor’s fatal shooting on August 19, 2024. Two defendants, Robert Barceleau and Sergio Estrada, were charged with murder; Leonel Gutierrez and Frank Olano faced other charges. Gutierrez and Olano later received prison sentences after resolving their cases through pleas. Barceleau and Estrada were ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing, but that ruling was not a finding of guilt. The latest trial disposition for those two defendants is not established by the available reports through October 8, 2026.
What happened to Johnny Wactor?
Wactor, 37, was killed in downtown Los Angeles on May 25, 2024. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said he was leaving his bartending job at the Moxy Hotel at about 3:25 a.m. when he encountered three men near Hope Street and Pico Boulevard who were allegedly trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car. Prosecutors allege that Barceleau shot Wactor once in the chest; Wactor died at a hospital. These are the prosecution’s account and allegations, not findings of guilt. The DA’s announcement describes the incident.
Who was charged, and with what?
The DA announced charges against four defendants on August 19, 2024. Only Barceleau and Estrada were charged with murder.
| Defendant | Charges announced | Later reported outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Barceleau | Murder, with special-circumstance allegations of murder during an attempted robbery and personal use of a firearm; attempted robbery; grand theft. | Ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in January 2025. The available reports do not establish a later disposition. |
| Sergio Estrada | Murder, attempted robbery and grand theft, with an allegation that a principal was armed with a firearm. | Ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in January 2025. The available reports do not establish a later disposition. |
| Leonel Gutierrez | Attempted robbery and grand theft, with a principal-armed allegation. | Pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and grand theft with the principal-armed allegation; AP later reported a four-year state-prison sentence. |
| Frank Olano | Accessory after the fact, receiving stolen property and three counts of felon in possession of a firearm. | Pleaded no contest to accessory-after-the-fact and receiving-stolen-property offenses; AP reported a sentence of five years and eight months. |
The charging details and Barceleau’s special-circumstance allegations come from the DA’s August 2024 announcement. The DA said at the time that Barceleau could face life in prison if convicted as charged; this was a potential consequence stated by prosecutors, not a sentence imposed.
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What happened in the cases resolved by pleas?
Leonel Gutierrez
Gutierrez pleaded guilty on September 11, 2024, to attempted robbery and grand theft, with a principal-armed allegation. The DA announced the plea the following day. AP subsequently reported that he was sentenced to four years in California state prison. He was not charged with murder. See the DA plea announcement and AP’s account of the sentences.
Frank Olano
Olano was not charged with killing Wactor. AP reported that he pleaded no contest to accessory-after-the-fact and receiving-stolen-property offenses and received a sentence of five years and eight months. The DA’s original release also listed three felon-with-a-firearm counts against him; the cited AP report describes the offenses resolved by his plea.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Did the murder defendants go to trial?
In January 2025, a judge ordered Barceleau and Estrada to stand trial after a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing determines whether a case may proceed; it does not decide guilt. The Los Angeles Times report described detective testimony about witness accounts and recorded conversations. Those details were testimony and allegations, not proof of guilt by themselves. In June 2025, ABC7 reported that a judge had refused to dismiss the charges, with the cases proceeding toward trial.
Those reports do not establish whether Barceleau or Estrada later went to trial, entered a plea or received another disposition. The Los Angeles Superior Court provides a criminal case access portal for case information; a current, case-specific court record is needed to verify any later status.
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