(KRON) -- More than three years after a mass shooting left seven farmworkers dead in Half Moon Bay, the accused killer is set to stand trial this upcoming January.
Chunli Zhao, 69, is accused of committing the worst mass shooting in San Mateo County history. He is charged with murdering his co-workers at two mushroom farms, California Terra Gardens and Concord Farms, on January 23, 2023.
District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe is seeking the death penalty.
Zhao, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, will appear in court Thursday while attorneys argue over motions setting rules for jury selection. The trial is still set to begin on January 25, 2027 with San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Finigan presiding, the district attorney's office confirmed Thursday.
Chunli Zhao wipes a tear during a hearing at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice in Redwood City, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. Zhao has been charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the mass shooting on Jan. 23, in Half Moon Bay. At left is his defense attorney, Eric Hove. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/Pool)
Judge Finigan will allow cameras in the courtroom for the high-profile trial. Zhao's trial defense team includes attorneys Jonathan McDougall, Eric Hove, and Renee Berenson.
Prosecutors said Zhao allegedly carried out the rampage because he was "angry at several co-workers over perceived mistreatment."
Police investigate the scene of a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (Karl Mondon /Bay Area News Group via AP)
The lone survivor of the mass shooting, 24-year-old farmworker Pedro Felix Romero Perez, was shot five times and his brother was slain in front of him. Perez's attorneys said Zhao targeted farmworkers who he perceived as bullies, and he sought "vengeance upon other people against whom he held longstanding personal grudges."
Zhao's anger boiled over in January 2023 when one "bully" demanded that he pay $100 to repair a forklift, according to a wrongful death lawsuit. The killing spree set off a manhunt that ended when Zhao suddenly showed up at the sheriff's news conference where reporters were gathered, and he was arrested by deputies.
The Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect is taken into custody on Jan. 23, 2023. (KRON4 Image)
Victims killed on the farms were Hispanic and Asian farmworkers identified as:
The mass murder investigation exposed "deplorable" living conditions on the farms, wages as low as $9 a day, and a history of violence between farmworkers, county supervisors said. Zhao and his wife lived in a tiny shack at California Terra Gardens. Some of the victims lived in shipping containers with no running water, insulation, or sanitary areas to prepare food, attorneys said.
