3 men sentenced after guilty pleas in 2021 fatal shooting of former SJ officer Kevin Nishita

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Three men were sentenced Tuesday for the shooting death of retired San Jose police officer Kevin Nishita.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

He was killed in 2021 in downtown Oakland. Nishita was guarding a TV news crew when investigators say three men tried to rob them.

PREVIOUS: Suspect pleads guilty to first-degree murder in 2021 shooting of former SJ cop Kevin Nishita

Laron Gilbert, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

His two co-defendants, who admitted to robbing Nishita, will each serve 25 years in prison, but will be eligible for parole after serving 85% of their sentence.

All three accepted a plea deal.

“I know he is proud of me and his family,” Kevin Nishita’s widow, Virginia Nishita, said after the Alameda County District Attorney’s office secured the rare first-degree murder plea.

For more than four years, she has been fighting to get justice for the murder of her husband.

MORE: TV news guard fatally shot in Oakland remembered as ‘caring, courageous’ at memorial

Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson says the pleas were reached based on the strength of the evidence in this case.

Virginia Nishita suggested she wanted a sentence of life without parole but stands by the plea deals based on current California law.

“I am numb with exhaustion. I have been faithfully in these courtrooms for four years, waiting for this day to come. And here it is. And on sentencing day, will be a step closer to where this nightmare can be over,” she said in February.

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