A fistfight outside an Antioch shopping center that left a 59-year-old man dead weeks later has ended with a nine-year prison sentence for the man involved in it. Brandon Rowlett was sent to state prison on Sept. 21 after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Frank Troia, who was fatally injured during the November 2025 altercation.
According to The East Bay Times, Rowlett and Troia fought near the Terrace Shopping Center on Lone Tree Way at around 2:45 a.m. on Nov. 18, 2025. Troia was injured and hospitalized, then died from his injuries weeks later, the outlet reported. Police separately placed the altercation at approximately 2:46 a.m. that same morning, near Lone Tree Way and West Tregallas Road, according to the Antioch Herald.
The Mercury News reported that Rowlett was arrested on Nov. 19. The Antioch Herald reported that the Antioch Police Department's Investigations Bureau located and arrested him on Nov. 19 at approximately 8:30 a.m. Police described the confrontation plainly, with one officer telling the outlet, “It was a one-on-one fight that got out of hand.”
Charges Shifted as Troia's Condition Worsened
Troia died on Dec. 4, 2025, from the injuries he sustained in the Nov. 18 attack, the Antioch Herald reported. Police said at the time that the charges initially filed against Rowlett would be amended to murder under Penal Code section 187 following Troia's death.
The record on how the charges evolved before that point is not entirely consistent. One account from the station's report states Rowlett was originally charged with attempted murder until Troia died, while another passage in the same outlet's coverage describes him as originally charged with murder, with the case ultimately resolving in a no-contest plea to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the nine-year term. Both versions appear in reporting on the case, and the dossier does not resolve which charge was filed first.
Sentencing Closes Out a Nearly Yearlong Case
Rowlett's age is also described inconsistently across coverage. Early reporting from the Mercury News, in a November 2025 article, identified him as a 34-year-old unhoused man from Antioch, while the later sentencing account lists him as 35. Troia, the man who died, was 59 years old.
Voluntary manslaughter under California law is defined as the unlawful killing of a human being without malice, a category the state's penal code divides into three distinct kinds, according to the California Legislative Information website. Rowlett's plea to that lesser charge, rather than murder, brought the nine-year sentence that sent him to prison in September, nearly a year after the fight that led to Troia's death.
