Officer convicted in fatal shooting of mentally ill man

By JOCELYN GECKER
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California police officer has been convicted of assault with a firearm in the 2018 fatal shooting of an unarmed mentally ill man in a wealthy San Francisco suburb. A jury in Contra Costa County agreed Tuesday that Officer Andrew Hall was guilty of the charge in the death of Laudemer Arboleda. The jury deadlocked on a second count of voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors had argued Hall used “excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary” force when he shot Arboleda nine times as he drove away from police during a slow speed chase. Hall’s lawyers said the officer feared for his safety and asked the jury to sympathize with the officer’s need to make split-second decisions.