Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy’s trial opens with conflicting narratives about 2018 killing  of Laudemer Arboleda

MARTINEZ — Did Deputy Andrew Hall gun down a mentally ill man moments after thrusting himself into a slow-moving car chase, in violation of Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office guidelines?

Or was Hall trying to save his life during a nightmarish encounter that left him with only seconds to act?

Those conflicting narratives emerged Monday as prosecutors opened their case against Hall, a sheriff’s deputy on trial for voluntary manslaughter in the November 2018 shooting death of 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda.

The fatal shooting was one of two by Hall over the last three years — the second, of Tyrell Wilson, coming earlier this year after the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office cleared Hall of wrongdoing in Arboleda’s death, allowing him to return to work.

On Monday, prosecutors focused solely on the first of those deadly encounters — painting a picture of a sunny Saturday afternoon in Danville that turned bloody mere seconds after Hall arrived on scene.

Before prosecutor Colleen Gleason said a single word, she played a video of Hall pulling up to Arboleda’s vehicle, jumping out of his cruiser and running behind it before unloading nearly his entire clip into Arboleda’s front windshield.

“Ten shots,” Gleason said. “The defendant fired 10 shots into the slow-moving vehicle of a mentally-ill man.”

In a nearly minute-by-minute breakdown, Gleason described Hall as jumping into a chase even as other officers debated ending it, fearing it would lead downtown and put bystanders in danger.

Over objections from Hall’s attorney, Gleason ticked off a list of sheriff’s office protocols that she claimed Hall violated that day, including joining the car chase without a supervisor’s approval and failing to seek permission to block in Arboleda with his vehicle.

Life and death situations come with the job of being a sheriff’s deputy, Gleason acknowledged, but added: “This was not one of those times.”

“The evidence is clear, the case is simple,” Gleason said, pointing at Hall while staring at the jury. “You will find his response was excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary.”

Not so, countered defense attorney Nicole Pifari. Playing the same video of the deadly encounter frame-by-frame, she emphasized the life-or-death decisions Hall had to make — and the milliseconds that he had to react.

She showed one frame that showed Hall appearing to move away from Arboleda’s vehicle like a “matador.” And she showed others that depicted the wheel of Arboleda’s vehicle pointed at the officer, as well as the car moving so close to his foot that “it is darn well near being run over.”

“Tire pointed at him, lower leg nearly crushed — Hall had really very little time to react,” Pifari said.

Pifari’s voice wavering, she chided the Contra Costa District Attorney for filing charges against an officer who she said was just doing his job.

“He acted to save his life,” Pifari said. “He used the only tool he had to buy himself an inch, a moment.”

Hall is the first Contra Costa County law enforcement officer to face felony charges after an on-duty police shooting.

It also comes amid questions about Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton’s decision to file charges against the deputy so long after the fatal shooting.

In May, four prosecutors in Becton’s own office penned a protest letter questioning the decision to charge Hall despite there having been no recent developments in the case in the two years since the shooting had taken place. In the letter, they said “delays, such as in this case, create confusion which justifiably erodes the confidence of the public and law enforcement in the process.”

The family of Arboleda also questioned those delays — claiming that had Benton acted quicker, Hall would not have shot another person earlier this year.

In March, Hall fatally shot Wilson, a homeless man living in Danville. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler has ruled that prosecutors can’t mention that case, saying that Hall’s mental state in 2021 had no bearing on his actions more than two years earlier.

Gleason said the video of the 2018 case is enough for the jury to convict Hall.

She also pointed out that an earlier encounter between Arboleda and officers ended peacefully. Two weeks before his fatal encounter with Hall, officers had been called to check on Arboleda after his family called authorities asking for help. In that instance, Arboleda drove around and away from the officers when they arrived.

The encounter came as Arboleda’s family had grown increasingly concerned about his mental state. Arboleda had in the last few months of his life become “withdrawn” and “isolated.” He avoided eye contact and had even barricaded himself in the condo where he had been living with his mother, Gleason told the jury.

“He was a mentally ill man who needed help,” Gleason said.