OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — A group gathered outside the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office on Monday to call for justice in the Jasper Wu case. The little boy was killed during a highway shooting in 2021 — just shy of his second birthday.
His family is concerned that DA Pamela Price isn’t doing enough to prosecute the three men accused of killing Jasper. It wasn’t just Jasper Wu’s case that was talked about at Monday’s rally.
The families of several victims in Alameda County took to the podium to demand more action from District Attorney Price. Nearly two years after Jasper Wu was shot and killed on an Oakland highway his name is still being chanted during protests and rallies
“When I see that iconic picture of Jasper in his Superman outfit, I don’t know about you, but it chips a little bit away from my heart,” said rally organizer, Bob Yee.
Yee says DA Price is lacking transparency when it comes to sentencing violent crimes — like Jasper’s.
“She is laying the groundwork for reducing penalties for Jasper Wu’s killers talking about no jail sentence for murdering a 23-month-old,” Yee said.
Three men were arrested for Wu’s murder in December: Trevor Green, Ivory Bivins and Johnny Jackson. They are awaiting preliminary hearings, but if convicted, protestors are concerned that DA Price’s office will pursue an alternative to prison time.
Stewart Chen with the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council read a statement from Jasper’s mother Monday.
“I am asking for maximum sentencing allowable under the law,” said Chen, representing the Wu family.
Butch Ford was the first president of the Alameda County Prosecutors Association but was placed on leave 13 weeks ago by DA Price. He stood in front of the podium Monday alleging that her office isn’t doing enough to seek justice for Jasper.
“His killer don’t need diversion of restorative justice, his killers need to go to prison,” Ford said.
It wasn’t just Jasper Wu’s case that was discussed Monday, but others like the murder of Kevin Nashita, a security guard shot and killed while working to protect a KRON 4 reporter — the same year Jasper was killed.
Kevin’s wife Virginia Nishita says she hasn’t received an update on the case since the newly elected DA took office.
“I am worried as well just like Jasper’s family, are they going to take the enhancements away, is Kevin going to get justice? I don’t know,” said Virginia Nishita.
In addition to “Justice for Jasper,” another chant that was yelled during Monday’s rally was “Recall Price.” The group says that if convicted killers aren’t punished to the fullest extent of the law, then DA Price should lose her job.
