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Andrew Hall, the former Danville police officer who shot and killed unarmed motorist Laudemer Arboleda to end a slow-speed pursuit in 2018, was sentenced to six years in state prison Friday by a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge in Martinez.
Because he was convicted of a violent felony — assault with a firearm — Hall must spend at least 85% of his sentence in prison before being eligible for parole, or 5.1 years.
“The people of Contra Costa County put their trust in Mr. Hall to protect them, and he violated that trust,” Judge Terri Mockler said, 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.”
Hall’s attorney Harry Stern objected to the description of a death sentence, considering the jury chose not to convict Hall on a manslaughter charge, to which Mockler conceded, “Point well taken. But the point is he did not deserve to die.”
Jurors found Hall guilty of assault but deadlocked on the manslaughter count following a nearly three-week trial last October.
Hall — who is still under investigation for another on-duty fatal shooting in 2021 — received three years for the assault with a firearm charge itself, plus another three for the enhancement of inflicting great bodily harm. He could’ve received another three years for the use of the firearm, which Mockler dismissed, saying it was already factored into the original charge.
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.
Officers trailed Arboleda after someone called police to report Arboleda knocked on their door. Arboleda, whose family said he was hospitalized earlier that year for mental illness, pulled over multiple times, only to drive away from police. At one point, officers drew their guns without shooting as Arboleda drove away.
Hall was only involved at the very end, when he pulled in front of Arboleda at the corner of Front and Diablo streets. He exited his car and stood near the Honda’s front right side. As Arboleda tried pulling away, Hall discharged his weapon 10 times, hitting Arboleda with nine bullets. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hall’s lawyers said the officer was only trying to protect himself from an oncoming vehicle, though video shows that many of the shots came from the vehicle’s passenger side as Arboleda tried driving away. The car ended up crossing Diablo Road and colliding with an oncoming car.
Mockler 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 evidence included testimony from other officers that Hall didn’t communicate to them he was joining the situation, and that a supervisor on the scene, located on the other 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 is pertinent because the car was moving as Hall fired the shots, which Mockler pointed out was also against Sheriff’s Office policy.
At that point, Stern asked if he could approach the bench, to which Mockler said “no.”
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.
Charges weren’t filed in the Arboleda case until Hall made more news by shooting and killing another man in March 2021 in Danville, when he killed 32-year-old transient Tyrell Wilson near the Sycamore Valley Road overpass of Interstate 680.
The two fatal shootings by Hall are the only police-involved shootings of any kind on record in Danville since 2001.
Police say Wilson approached Hall with a knife, which seems to be confirmed in bodycam video. Authorities are still investigating the Wilson shooting, and no charges have been filed.
Mockler earlier ruled the Wilson case couldn’t be used against Hall during the Arboleda trial.
Arboleda’s family members were under no such constraints Friday when speaking to Mockler before she handed down the sentence. Arboleda’s mother Jeannie Atienza called him a “murderer and a serial killer.”
“Hall violated his civil rights,” Atienza said. “He killed, and overkilled, my son because he was a brown man in the white city of Danville.”
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 Friday, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton called the prison sentence “reflective of the gravity of the crime Dep Hall” when he “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.”
Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston’s office also issued a public statement Friday, confirming Hall’s termination and the logistics of his transfer to prison.
Livingston, who had cleared Hall of wrongdoing in the Arboleda shooting and also argued the Wilson shooting was justifiable self-defense, previously criticized Becton’s decision to prosecute his deputy and said he’d hoped for a not guilty verdict at trial.
“(We are) aware that Andrew Hall was sentenced today and later remanded into custody,” Livingston’s office said Friday, “Hall will be booked and transported to Solano County jail; details on where he will serve any remaining time of his sentence will be disclosed when available. Due to state law requirements about felony convictions, the Sheriff’s Office had no choice but to serve Hall with a notice for termination. That was done immediately after sentencing.”
The town of Danville declined to comment when contacted Friday, deferring to the sheriff’s office.
Editor’s note: Pleasanton Weekly editor Jeremy Walsh contributed to this story.
