MARTINEZ, Calif. — In the conclusion of Contra Costa County’s first case involving a policeman who was prosecuted for an on-duty shooting, ex-sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Hall was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for fatally shooting a mentally ill man during a slow-speed police chase in 2018.
Hall was convicted last year of assault with a firearm and a gun enhancement in 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda’s shooting death, but jurors couldn’t reach a verdict on a more serious manslaughter count. Though the shooting occurred in 2018, Hall wasn’t charged until 2021, after he’d been cleared by a sheriff’s internal probe, returned to duty, and killed a second man.
In March 2021, Hall shot and killed 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, when Wilson pulled a knife and took a step toward Hall during a jaywalking stop. Hall was again cleared by an internal sheriff’s probe; the DA’s office reportedly is still investigating that shooting.
With his conviction, Hall became the first law enforcement officer in Contra Costa County to be successfully prosecuted for an on-duty killing. He now joins a small but growing number of law enforcement officers nationwide who have been sentenced to prison for killing someone while on duty.
Hall faced a wide range of possible sentences — anywhere from probation or house arrest to 17 years in state prison. His defense team has said they will appeal his case and expect him to be cleared.
Before handing down the sentence Friday, Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler went through the evidence presented at trial. She said Hall turned Arboleda’s car into an “unguided missile” by shooting the driver while it was in motion and acted contrary to his training in dealing with chases. She said he’d put colleagues and civilians in danger that day.
“The people of Contra Costa put their trust in Deputy Hall to protect them, and he violated it on this occasion,” Mockler said. She described Arboleda as a “particularly vulnerable” victim and added, “He did not deserve to die for evading a police officer.”
Moments earlier, Arboleda’s sister, Jennifer Leong, said the last three years have been “hell” for the family and asked for the maximum sentence.
“We cannot even start to comprehend the pain, the suffering, the anguish, the shock of those nine bullets coming into my brother’s body and one fatal bullet coming into his heart,” Leong said. “We know he was scared. He was going through a mental heath crisis.”
Leong cried as she recounted how, while waiting for the justice system to act, she learned that Hall killed Wilson. She said it was like her brother had been “murdered all over again.”
“I couldn’t believe our justice system let this happen,” Leong said. “The shock, the grief, the devastation, it happened all over again, if not a million times worse.”
When prosecutors charged Hall in April 2021, it was largely based on video evidence readily available to authorities since 2018. DA Diana Becton blamed the delay on a backlog of police-involved death investigations she conducted as part of a widespread project that retroactively looked into police shootings.
Outside her office, Becton read a brief statement calling the sentence just.
“No sentence imposed upon this matter will bring Mr. Arboleda back to his family,” Becton said. “The sentence imposed today is proportionate to the egregious shooting committed by a law enforcement officer who took the life of one man and in doing so endangered the lives of fellow officers and citizens.”
In court, Arboleda’s mother, Jeannie Atienza, said her son was not a criminal but someone suffering a mental health crisis. She joined in calls for the maximum sentence.
“Andrew Hall destroyed the life of my son. He doesn’t value the dignity of human life at all,” Atienza said. “Andrew Hall is not a decent person. He’s a murderer and a serial killer.”
A close friend of Hall, who identified herself as Erica, spoke up to defend him after describing herself as a “progressive liberal” who believes in police reform. She described him as a good friend who was always there for people in need and “not the scapegoat” portrayed by prosecutors.
“He is a good man in a very bad situation,” she said.
Randy Arboleda, Laudemer Arboleda’s brother, also asked for the maximum but made it clear the request was not out of malice.
“I don’t hate Mr. Hall or have any ill will toward him,” Arboleda said. “If Jesus can forgive the people who killed him, I can forgive too.”
Arboleda’s family settled a federal lawsuit with the sheriff’s office for $4.9 million.
Hall shot and killed Arboleda during a slow-speed police chase that began after Arboleda ignored deputies’ attempts to pull him over. The deputies were responding to a caller who thought it was suspicious Arboleda was wandering around a neighborhood that it turned out he used to live in. Arboleda suffered from a mental illness, his family has publicly stated.
Police body and dash cameras — the main evidence used to convict Hall — show him running around the front of his patrol car, gun drawn, and coming face to face with Arboleda’s sedan. As Arboleda continues forward at a slow speed, Hall fires into the car while backing away. Arboleda suffered nine gunshot wounds.
Prosecution and defense experts agreed during trial that Arboleda was traveling at six miles per hour when he was shot.
During trial, Hall’s attorneys argued he fired in self-defense, to avoid being run over. Prosecutors described Hall as unnecessarily aggressive. A sheriff’s sergeant who joined the pursuit testified he was worried about potentially being in Hall’s line of fire.
Mockler lambasted both the probation report, which called for leniency, as well as a defense sentencing memorandum that asked for a probation term. She said the defense presented a “very novel” interpretation of physical evidence and refused to let Hall’s attorney respond. She said it was clear the defense arguments failed to sway the jury.
“The jury rejected the self-defense theory,” she said. “They could not have convicted Mr. Hall of anything if they believed he was acting in self-defense.”
Shawn Welch, president of the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, lambasted the decision — arguing that Hall should have instead received probation.
“Hall, obviously within those few seconds, felt in danger of his life. That’s why he shot,” said Welch, adding of the sentence: “I just don’t think it’s right.”
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