DUBLIN — With their trial weeks away, three alleged San Francisco gang members agreed to serve decades in prison for their roles in the robbery and killing of a retired San Jose policeman who was working as a security guard for the KRON4 news station when he was fatally shot.
The accused killer of retired San Jose police Officer Kevin Nishita, Laron Gilbert, pleaded no contest to first degree murder with the expectation of a prison sentence of 30 years to life. The two co-defendants, Shadihia Mitchell and Hershel Hale, agreed to serve 25-year sentences for robbery, authorities said.
The three were charged in 2022 with murder and gang enhancements in the November 2021 killing of Nishita, which happened on 14th Street in downtown Oakland. The charging records allege they were attempting to rob a camera crew for KRON4, which was doing a news segment on a recent store looting, and killed Nishita when he stepped in to protect the would-be victims.
Nishita’s loved ones were seen weeping in open court as the deal was announced Thursday morning. The three were set to go on trial in March, a case that was expected to last month. They have not yet been formally sentenced and remain jailed in Alameda County.
Nishita’s widow, Virginia Nishita, declined to comment when reached by phone later Thursday. She suggested a press conference would be held in the future to discuss the outcome of the cases.
The three men were accused of committing the crimes to benefit the San Francisco street gang Mac Block, based on court transcripts, jail recordings and witness statements.
At the case’s start, in 2022, police accused Mitchell of firing the fatal shots, but things later took a turn. After Gilbert was arrested on a fugitive warrant in Kansas, in 2024, Mitchell’s lawyer said evidence had surfaced implicating Gilbert, not Mitchell, as the actual killer.
Gilbert originally faced 189 years to life in prison, and the others faced 151 to 178 years if convicted as originally charged.
Check back for updates to this developing story.