For almost two years, metallurgist Rong Yuan suffered from an illness no one could explain. She dealt with constant vomiting, hair loss and repeated trips to the hospital. Looking for answers, she installed a camera near her desk at Berkeley Engineering and Research. Footage from March 2019 shows her co-worker, David Xu, pouring a liquid into her water bottle.

Police testing found cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, in her water. One sample held roughly 3.5 million times the amount federal rules allow in drinking water, according to lab results reviewed by the San Francisco Standard. Blood tests also showed raised cadmium levels in Yuan’s parents, who drank water she had brought home.

Xu pleaded no contest to one poisoning count in 2023 under a plea deal. He received credit for one day in jail and two years of probation. At sentencing, the judge called the deal “extremely generous, considering everything in this case,” according to the San Francisco Standard.

Now that his probation is over, Xu has asked the Alameda County Superior Court to clear the conviction from his record. Yuan says lasting health problems still keep her from working full time, and she worries a cleared record would hide the conviction from future employers.

“This legal system already failed me,” Yuan told the San Francisco Standard. “This is my last resort.”

Clearing a record can make sense for people who have turned their lives around. But a documented poisoning that harmed a co-worker and her family is different. The Alameda County Superior Court should deny this request, and the office of Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson should formally oppose it.

Sign the petition to tell the court to keep this conviction on the record — Rong Yuan deserves to have this harm taken seriously.