Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Friday announced new charges for the three men accused of killing retired Bay Area police officer Kevin Nishita in 2021.
Laron Gilbert, 29, Hershel Hale, 26, and Shadihia Mitchell, 27, are all facing charges of murder, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
Also, all three are charged with gun and gang enhancement, Price said in a news release Friday.
"The previous prosecutors who charged the case under my predecessor made mistakes about who was responsible for Mr. Nishita's murder and failed to include some charges," Price said. "At my direction, our team reevaluated the evidence, discovered those mistakes, and resubmitted the charges to ensure that the men whom we believe committed these crimes will be held fully accountable."
Mitchell was originally accused of firing the shot that killed Nishita but the newly filed criminal complaint alleges Gilbert was "the actual killer."
"No one should trust the police work in this case," said David Briggs, Laron Gilbert's attorney. "The lead detective couldn’t even convince the DA who did the shooting."
The three defendants will be tried together and are scheduled to enter pleas on March 8.
If convicted, Gilbert faces up to 189 years to life in prison, Hale faces 151 years to life and Mitchell faces 78 years to life, according to Price.
Linda Fullerton, who represents Hale, called the enhancements a miscarriage of justice in court.
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"This is not a gang case and the court knows enough about what this really is," Fullerton said. "This is a group of men that were bipping and they saw an opportunity to steal a camera and tragedy happened."
"The DA, even under the (Nancy) O'Malley regime, never called this case a gang case - because it isn't - and the police had given the DA the information of gang association before they filed the complaint originally." Fullerton added.
Nishita was killed while working as a security guard protecting a KRON-TV news crew on assignment at 14th and Webster streets in Oakland on Nov. 24, 2021.
Mitchell and Hale were arrested about a month after the killing and have been in custody ever since, but Gilbert remained at large until Jan. 17, when he was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Kansas City, Missouri.
The trio, who are suspected of being in a San Francisco street gang, were originally charged with murder, attempted second-degree robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and a special allegation of felony murder.
