Three Oakland men charged in the 2021 killing of retired San Jose police officer Kevin Nishita have taken plea deals, sidestepping a looming March jury trial and locking in long prison terms instead. Laron Gilbert agreed to plead no contest to first-degree murder, while co-defendants Shadihia Mitchell and Hershel Hale accepted robbery convictions that are expected to land each of them behind bars for roughly 25 years.
Plea deals and the terms
The agreements were entered in Alameda County Superior Court. As reported by The Mercury News, Gilbert pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, while Mitchell and Hale each admitted to negotiated robbery counts. All three had originally been charged in 2022 with murder, along with alleged gang and weapons…..