Judge sets trial date in death penalty case against accused Half Moon Bay mass shooter

Jakob Rodgers, The Mercury News on Feb 2, 2026

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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — San Mateo County’s first death penalty case in 15 years now has a trial date.

Judge Jeffrey R. Finigan set a trial date of Jan. 25, 2027, for Chunli Zhao, the Peninsula man accused of gunning down seven fellow migrant workers in the county’s deadliest mass shooting on record. If the trial date holds, it would come almost exactly four years to the day after authorities claim Zhao carried out the killings at two mushroom farms in and around the coastal community of Half Moon Bay.

Prosecutors had asked for the case to go before a jury in September, but defense attorneys said they couldn’t be ready for trial until next year, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

The Jan. 23, 2023, shooting began at a Half Moon Bay mushroom farm where Zhao lived and worked for seven years, most recently as a forklift driver. The violence appeared to stem from a workplace grudge, triggered by a $100 equipment bill from his boss for damage to heavy construction equipment, according to authorities.

The rampage — which continued to a second location in the city, off Highway 1 — illuminated deep concerns about living conditions among migrant workers on farms across San Mateo County, where state and county officials described the workers’ dwellings as “deplorable.”

Zhao surrendered to authorities later that day. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, and remains held at the San Mateo County jail without bail.

Nearly 20 years have passed since anyone was executed in California, which holds more condemned prisoners than any other state in the nation. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on executions across the state in 2019, and he began dismantling the state’s death row three years later.

The case marks the first time that San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has sought the death penalty since becoming the county’s top prosecutor in 2011, though he tried five death penalty cases prior to winning office.

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