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| Jeanine Atienza, center, mother of Lademer Arboleda, leaves the court house with supporters. |
Andrew Hall fired his weapon 10 times at Laudemer Arboleda to end a slow-speed pursuit in 2018 in Danville, California. was sentenced to six years in state prison Friday by a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge in Martinez.
"Hall violated his civil rights," said Jeannie Atienza, Arboleda’s mother. "He killed, and overkilled, my son because he was a brown man in the white city of Danville."
"The people of Contra Costa County put their trust in Mr. Hall to protect them, and he violated that trust," Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler, adding that Arboleda, "did not deserve to die for evading a police officer. That is really the crux of this. While he may have violated the law, it was no law that carried a sentence of death for him."
Jurors found Hall guilty of assault but deadlocked on the manslaughter count following a nearly three-week trial last October.
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| Laudemer Arboleda |
Hall shot and killed 33-year-old Arboleda at the end of a slow-speed police pursuit in Danville on Nov, 3, 2018. He shot him nine times as the Newark man pulled away at 6 mph.
The events unfolded on Nov. 3, 2018, when a Danville resident called 911 to report that a man later identified as Arboleda was knocking on doors and lingering outside homes in a cul-de-sac. It is not known why Arboleda drove to Danville, perhaps a 20-minute drive from his Newark residence.
Arboleda, whose family said he was hospitalized earlier that year for mental illness, pulled over several times, only to drive away from police. At one point, officers drew their guns without shooting as Arboleda slowly drove away.
Hall became involved at the end of the slow-speed chase when he pulled in front of Arboleda and got out of his police car and took a position near the Honda's front passenger side. As Arboleda tried pulling away, Hall discharged his weapon 10 times, hitting Arboleda with nine bullets. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
During opening remarks Deputy District Attorney Colleen Gleason presented dashboard and bodycam footage showing Hall jumping out of his car, running up to Arboleda’s vehicle and firing repeatedly into the car’s windows.
“The defendant fired 10 shots into the slow-moving vehicle of a mentally ill man,” said
Deputy District Attorney Colleen Gleason said nine of the bullets hit Arboleda, who had periodically shown signs of depression, but began displaying concerning behavior in the months before his death. Just months before his encounter with Hall, Arboleda was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for three weeks and prescribed medication for psychosis and schizophrenia, his family has said.
Hall's lawyers said the officer was only trying to protect himself from the oncoming Honda, though video shows Hall, standing to one side of car was not in the path of the car. Arboleda's vehicle ended up crossing and colliding with an oncoming car.
The judge took issue with a report from the county's Probation Department, as well as a sentencing memo from the defense, both of which she said left out "critical evidence" from the trial. Some of that missing evidence included testimony from other officers that Hall didn't communicate to them he was joining the situation, and that a police supervisor on the scene, lwho was on the driver's side of Arboleda's car, felt endangered by Hall's gunfire.
Mockler also said the reports ignored expert testimony saying it wasn't clear which shot was the chest shot they said killed Arboleda. That detail is important because the car was moving. albeit slowly, as Hall fired his firearm, which the judge pointed out was also against Sheriff's Office policy.
Mockler said the probation report also left out testimony saying Hall was trained not to fire into a moving vehicle, as doing so makes "the vehicle a guided missile, which is exactly what happened," when it crossed the street and struck a vehicle driven by an elderly woman.
An initial investigation by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, with which Danville contracts for police services, cleared Hall of wrongdoing.
The two fatal shootings committed by Hall are the only police-involved shootings of any kind on record in Danville since 2001.
Shortly after the October verdict, Contra Costa County agreed to pay $4.9 million to Arboleda's family to settle a lawsuit.
Following the sentencing hearing last March 3, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton called the prison sentence "reflective of the gravity of the crime when Hall "unreasonably shot" Arboleda.
"Deputy's Hall's actions were dangerous, unreasonable, and excessive. In sentencing the defendant to prison, the Court recognized the need for accountability in Deputy Hall's decision to fire multiple times at Laudemer Aboleda (sic), taking his life," Becton said in a written statement released by her office.
"No sentence imposed will bring Laudemer Aboleda (sic) back to his family," the DA's statement added. "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 his fellow officers and civilians."
Hall's lawyers said the officer was only trying to protect himself from the oncoming Honda, though video shows Hall, standing to one side of car was not in the path of the car. Arboleda's vehicle ended up crossing and colliding with an oncoming car.
The judge took issue with a report from the county's Probation Department, as well as a sentencing memo from the defense, both of which she said left out "critical evidence" from the trial. Some of that missing evidence included testimony from other officers that Hall didn't communicate to them he was joining the situation, and that a police supervisor on the scene, lwho was on the driver's side of Arboleda's car, felt endangered by Hall's gunfire.
Mockler also said the reports ignored expert testimony saying it wasn't clear which shot was the chest shot they said killed Arboleda. That detail is important because the car was moving. albeit slowly, as Hall fired his firearm, which the judge pointed out was also against Sheriff's Office policy.
Mockler said the probation report also left out testimony saying Hall was trained not to fire into a moving vehicle, as doing so makes "the vehicle a guided missile, which is exactly what happened," when it crossed the street and struck a vehicle driven by an elderly woman.
An initial investigation by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, with which Danville contracts for police services, cleared Hall of wrongdoing.
The two fatal shootings committed by Hall are the only police-involved shootings of any kind on record in Danville since 2001.
Shortly after the October verdict, Contra Costa County agreed to pay $4.9 million to Arboleda's family to settle a lawsuit.
Following the sentencing hearing last March 3, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton called the prison sentence "reflective of the gravity of the crime when Hall "unreasonably shot" Arboleda.
"Deputy's Hall's actions were dangerous, unreasonable, and excessive. In sentencing the defendant to prison, the Court recognized the need for accountability in Deputy Hall's decision to fire multiple times at Laudemer Aboleda (sic), taking his life," Becton said in a written statement released by her office.
"No sentence imposed will bring Laudemer Aboleda (sic) back to his family," the DA's statement added. "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 his fellow officers and civilians."
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