A man will likely serve a life sentence in the murder for hire plot of a dentist in Oakland Chinatown.
Hasheen Bason on Wednesday pleaded no contest to the charges in the death of Lily Xu in 2022. Prosecutors believe Xu’s boyfriend Nelson Chia hired Bason to kill her in an attempt to win $12 – $14 million in life insurance and assets.
“Chia and Bason planned the day, time and place of the murder. Bason acquired a vehicle, recruited a driver, and waited to ambush Xu a block from the location of (her) appointment,” police said in court records obtained by the Mercury News. “Chia drove Xu to the agreed upon location.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the no contest plea is part of a plea bargain in exchange for special circumstances allegations being dropped by the office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.
Price is facing a recall in November by those who feel she is being soft on crime. A special circumstances allegation would have opened up the possibility of a death sentence in the case.
Chia was arrested two months after the shooting but died by suicide at Santa Rita Jail shortly after being arrested.
“This resolution was motivated by a desire to spare everyone involved the pain of litigation,” Bason’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Christina Moore, said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle. The DA’s office declined to comment on the plea bargain.
The shooting sparked fear for the safety of Chinatown residents who thought Xu was a victim of a random killing. Chia had just dropped her off when Bason pulled up and shot her three times.
Moore presented evidence that Chia coerced Bason into shooting Xu.
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