A Stockton man has been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for the fatal shooting of an Oakland dentist in 2022, according to Alameda County prosecutors.
Hasheem Bason, 35, entered a plea to second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Dr. Lili Xu on August 21, 2022 in the 1000 block of Fifth Avenue in the city’s Little Saigon neighborhood, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday.
Authorities said Xu’s murder was planned by her romantic partner, Nelson Chia.
Oakland Police Department
“The month before she was murdered, Dr. Xu discovered that Mr. Chia had engaged in multiple acts of infidelity while simultaneously attempting to take over her considerable assets. Further investigation revealed evidence that Mr. Chia openly discussed how he could profit from Dr. Xu’s death,” prosecutors said.
According to the prosecution, video evidence showed Chia holding a banquet in Xu’s honor and trying to raise money for his own foundation, playing the role of a grieving partner even though he was the one who engineered her death.
According to investigators, Bason was a vulnerable youth when he and Chia allegedly developed an inappropriately exploitative relationship. Chia allegedly tracked down Bason and threatened to reveal the secrets of his youth unless Bason helped him kill Xu.
“The shooting death of popular dentist Lili Xu has traumatized our entire community. In this case, we learned of extreme mitigating circumstances that had to be taken into consideration when resolving the case against Mr. Bason,” District Attorney Pamela Price said in a statement.
Price added: “The public needs to know that the person who truly deserves the maximum punishment under the law is Nelson Chia, the mastermind behind this heinous crime. Sadly, when the true facts came to light, Chia, who was arrested for the crime, took his own life to avoid being punished for his role in these evil acts. Although Hasheem Bason was not the person who planned to take Lili Xu’s life, he did in fact pull the trigger on the gun that killed her, and for that he is facing 15 years to life in prison.”
Bason is due to appear in court on August 20 to hear his sentence.
