An Alameda County judge rendered decades-long prison sentences Tuesday for the three men who pleaded guilty in the 2021 killing of Kevin Nishita, the former San Jose police officer who was fatally shot while working as a security guard for a television news crew.
Judge Paul Delucchi lamented the “senseless” nature of the killing while handing down sentences for the admitted shooter, Laron Gilbert, as well as the two men accused of trying to help steal camera equipment from a KRON4 news crew that Nishita had been hired to protect. All three of them pleaded guilty in February — Gilbert to a single murder charge; his co-defendants Shadihia Mitchell and Hershel Hale to robbery charges — just weeks ahead of trial.
Speaking from the bench, Delucchi likened the killing to a boulder being dropped into a pond, given how “the devastating consequences still ripple to this day.”
“It just makes you scratch your head, ‘For what?’ ” said Delucchi, adding that “I think this is why this is so difficult for everybody to still wrap their heads around, because it was so avoidable. This is going to reverberate.”
The judge’s words came after numerous people — first several of Nishita’s close friends and former fellow police officers, then his widow — spoke at length about the searing pain of losing Nishita, a father and former San Jose police officer who, after retiring, accepted private security guard jobs.
Weeping and often pausing to look heavenward, Virginia Nishita thanked the three men for pleading guilty in the death of her husband — sparing her from a long and emotionally difficult trial. Yet she made clear that she would never forgive the men for what they did, saying she preferred to leave to that to her slain husband in the afterlife.
“He is the only one who can forgive you,” Virginia Nishita said. “And during your prison stay, and in your quiet moments, seek forgiveness. And reflect daily on the irreplaceable light that you extinguished on that Thanksgiving holiday.”
Gilbert received a prison sentence of 30 years to life, while his two co-defendants each received prison terms of 25 years to life. Gilbert is expected to be eligible for parole around the age of 50, while the two other men are expected to be eligible for release in about 15 years.
Virginia Nishita said she’s already preparing to be there for those hearings.
“I pray that at each parole hearing, that their request is denied, every time,” Virginia Nishita said at the hearing. “Every time. Just as Kevin cannot return home, neither should they.”
Moments later, Gilbert’s attorney read a statement from the defendant, apologizing to Nishita’s widow and family for the killing, adding that “I never intended for that to happen.”
“I wish there was something I could do to make this right,” read the attorney, David Briggs. “I wish he could live again. All I can do is dedicate myself to become a better person. I promise to do that the whole time I am in prison.”
The judge added: “Mr. Gilbert, that’s a good start.”
Check back for updates to this developing story.