In prison, ex-Danville cop enjoyed coveted firefighter role. Now he can use it to dismiss his felony

MARTINEZ — Andrew Hall, the ex-Contra Costa Sheriff’s deputy who served a prison sentence for assault in a 2018 on-duty killing, seems poised to have the conviction scrubbed from his record.

That’s because Hall, 36, served on the San Quentin Fire Department during his time of incarceration. While technically a California inmate, Hall’s role gave him privileges most prisoners can only dream of, including a shortened sentence, spending his day-to-day life outside prison walls and enrollment in state training programs.

Now a free man since his release last March, Hall wants to use his firefighter service to expunge an assault with a firearm conviction under a piece of state law enacted help the formerly incarcerated who served in prison firehouses, court records show. The California statute virtually guarantees Hall’s efforts will be successful, so long as he fills out the paperwork properly.

The move comes with limitations; if Hall gets what he wants, he still won’t be allowed to possess guns, and if he ever gets charged with another violent felony, it will count as a second strike, according to the statute.

At a court hearing last week, Contra Costa Judge Julia Campins postponed Hall’s expungement until August, stating that he needs to obtain a certificate from the prison before it can proceed. He’s also seeking early termination of his parole term, which Campins has more discretion to withhold.

Prosecutors say they plan to ask Campins to postpone Hall’s expungement until after he completes his two-year parole term, but that’s about the only legal card they can play. Hall is being represented by the county public defender’s office, not the prominent pro-law enforcement firm that represented him at trial.

From 2018 to 2021, while serving as a Danville policeman through the sheriff’s office, Hall killed two people in on-duty shootings. He was prosecuted for the 2018 killing of 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda, a court process that started just weeks after the second homicide of 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson. The second killing was controversial but the Contra Costa District Attorney said experts they consulted were split on whether it was justified, so they declined to file charges.

Hall shot and killed Arboleda during a slow-speed chase through Danville, while backpedaling out of the way of Arboleda’s moving sedan. Jurors hung on a manslaughter charge but convicted Hall of assault.

In Wilson’s killing, the 32-year-old man pulled a knife as Hall was attempting to question him about allegedly throwing rocks onto Interstate 680, in March 2021. When Wilson took a step forward, Hall shot him in the head from a few feet away, Hall’s body camera video shows.

Hall was sentenced to six years in prison for shooting Arboleda. Transferred to San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in 2022, he was almost immediately given a spot in the prison’s fire department, according to court records. It is one of the most coveted spots in the entire state prison system, offering participants not just time outside of San Quentin’s walls but a wholly different experience than the average inmate.

“Joining the department was also an opportunity to escape the politics and culture of prison. I wouldn’t be confined to a cell or have COs hanging over my shoulder all the time; I would be treated like a human being,” wrote Rasheed Lockheart, a former San Quentin prisoner, in a first-person Marshall Project article about his time in the firehouse. He added that firefighters are expected to be on call 24/7 for emergencies in and out of the facility.

“On the outside, we had house fires, medical emergencies, car accidents and grass fires. Inside we responded to cell fires, provided CPR and transported bodies from housing units to the hospital,” Lockheart wrote.

It also allows people to get out prison sooner. A system implemented by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2021 reduces the amount of time fire camp participants have to serve.

Violent offenders, like Hall, would normally serve 85 percent of their sentences with good behavior, but those in fire camps have to serve much less, 66 percent. It is a perk enjoyed by other high profile ex-prisoners, like Devaughndre Broussard, the Bay Area native who admitted to murdering both Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and local resident Odell Roberson. Broussard, who served in a Northern California prison fire camp, was released early last month after serving 18 years of a 25-year sentence.

The laws and policies affording these benefits to prisoner firefighters came in response to public outcry over how the low paid incarcerated firefighters often risked their lives as prisoners only to find that no one wanted to hire them on the outside.

In Hall’s case, his attempt was met with a protest outside a Contra Costa courthouse — something that was typical during Hall’s entire prosecution — and outcry from Arboleda’s family, who received nearly $5 million in a lawsuit settlement over the killing.

“Oh, it’s very upsetting. Very upsetting,” Jennifer Leong, Arboleda’s sister, told ABC7 at the rally. She added, “Our system is broken.”