A judge’s indication that he is likely to spare a wealthy Bay Area woman jail time after she killed a family of four while speeding in her Mercedes has sparked widespread outrage.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan described the slaughter as ‘incomprehensible,’ but said he would likely sentence Lau to a few years of probation rather than jail time due to her old age, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Fury swirled online after Chan said that jailing Lau would have equated to ‘sentencing her to die within the state prison system’.
‘Murder is legal in California,’ one Golden State resident wrote on X. ‘Fully legal. Slaughter of a family of four, go home. This sucks.’
Lau allegedly also transferred her ownership interest in several properties to third parties, including her son-in-law, to avoid any seizure of her assets amid civil lawsuits, adding fuel to the fire.
One Californian called for ‘someone with higher authority’ to step in to prevent this from happening, writing on X: ‘This is unacceptable.
‘It’s wrong that she killed four people, she then protects her assets and walks free.’
A judge’s indication that he is likely to spare Mary Fong Lau, 80, jail time after she killed a family of four while speeding in her Mercedes has sparked widespread outrage
Apple executive Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, his wife Matilde Ramos Pinto, and their two children Joaquim and Cauê were sitting at a bus stop in March 2024 when they were fatally hit
Fury swirled online after Judge Bruce Chan said serving the elderly San Francisco woman with prison time would be ‘sentencing her to die within the state prison system’
‘I’ve always said, the easiest way to get away with murder is to run them over in a car and claim it was a oopsie,’ another user sarcastically wrote.
‘Sorry, don’t care how old/young or how sad your story was,’ a third comment began.
‘You made a mistake and people are dead. At the very least manslaughter should be applied here.’
The family of four had been waiting for the bus to go to the San Francisco Zoo for their wedding anniversary when Lau hit them at around 70mph in a residential neighborhood with a 40mph limit in March 2024.
The parents of Oliveira and Pinto filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Lau in July 2024 and then, in May 2025, a civil suit to void any financial transfers she may have made after the wrongful death suit was filed.
They have accused the elderly woman of transferring properties to new limited liability companies and selling them to third parties, possibly amounting to millions of dollars.
Cardoso de Oliveira’s sister, Denise Oliveira, told the judge that ‘it feels like we have no rights.’ ‘I feel deeply disrespected by this process. It doesn’t feel like this is justice,’ she said to Chan.
The judge factored Lau’s own husband dying years ago in a car crash into his likely decision to lessen her sentence, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Lau cried at the hospital when she learned of their deaths and told medical staff she wished she could have traded places with them, the judge said.
San Francisco Judge Chan (pictured) has been slammed for his decision to keep Lau from going to jail in her old age after her husband died in a car crash years ago
Fury swirled online in response to Chan’s ruling, along with his assertion that jailing Lau would have equated to ‘sentencing her to die within the state prison system’
Lau’s attorney, Seth Morris, said that she had ‘expressed remorse repeatedly’ and had to ‘seek psychiatric help.’
Several furious fingers began pointing at Judge Chan, including another user who wrote on X: ‘Also this is all from the same judge who criticized the last DA for being soft on crime and was largely responsible for his subsequent recall.’
‘Could also argue the DA should’ve brought vehicular manslaughter charges. The whole system is a joke.’
Chan recently won the Aranda Access to Justice award in January for the founding of the nation’s first Young Adult Court (YAC) in 2015.
The YAC, according to the release, ‘operates as a collaborative court for transitional-age youth facing felony charges who seek to have their records expunged in exchange for successful participation in and graduation from the program.’
He faced backlash just last year when a serial burglar was released after less than four months in prison due to a plea deal.
Robert Sonza, who has been on probation and reoffended multiple times, was required to admit to a string of felonies as part of the deal, including domestic violence in 2019, several burglary convictions, evading an officer, resisting arrest and possession of a firearm as a felon, ABC 7 reported.
Judge Chan said during Sonza’s hearing in January 2025 that it was ‘important to be smart on crime, not just tough on crime.’
Lau was seen being comforted in court on Friday. She will more than likely only receive probation for her crimes, as the judge is taking her age into account
The couple were taking their children to the zoo to celebrate their wedding anniversary
The decision was in defiance of the Adult Probation Department’s call for state prison time.
Chan promised Sonza would be monitored, and in the event of another offence he would be sentenced to a maximum of three years and eight months in state prison, according to the outlet.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins condemned the decision and told ABC 7: ‘I think we have a culture at the Hall of Justice here in San Francisco of judges viewing property crime as less significant, finding opportunities to not hear trials and to send people back out to sadly use the courthouse as a revolving door.’
Sonza did in fact reoffend just months later and was sentenced in May 2025 to the promised three years and eight months in state prison after stealing from tourists.
Dan Oldiges, one of the victims, said: ‘I guess my big thing is, look at all that nice money, all of you California taxpayers had to pay for all this joke of a mess that he’s done.’
The Daily Mail reached out to Judge Chan through the San Francisco Superior Court for comment.
