California man, 83, who ordered podiatrist’s death in murder-for-hire plot found guilty

The man who plotted the 2018 revenge killing of a Northern California podiatrist was convicted of murder Thursday in San Joaquin Superior Court.

Robert Elmo Lee, 83, of Lodi will be sentenced May 16 on a charge of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain in the

August 2018 killing of Dr. Thomas Shock, 67, at the doctor’s Lodi home.

“The conclusion of this case sends a clear message that my office will hold those who harm members of our community accountable to the full extent of the law,” San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said in a statement.

Lee hired three men to kill Shock at his home, blaming the podiatrist for his wife’s death. Lodi police on Aug. 1, 2018, found the doctor dead of multiple gunshot wounds just inside his Rivergate Drive home. A page of the medical complaint Lee’s wife filed was found near the doctor’s body, the Stockton Record reported.

Lee’s wife, Bonnie Lee, visited Shock for an ingrown toenail, but alleged substandard care led to her foot being partially amputated in 2014, the Record reported. Bonnie Lee died of an infection two years later, in 2016.

Shock, a doctor with Lodi Podiatry Group, was investigated and later disciplined by the Medical Board of California, and the case was closed in 2016 prior to Bonnie Lee’s death. It was not known whether Shock’s care contributed to Lee’s death, the Record reported, citing a Lodi Police arrest warrant.

Robert Lee and the three-man crew he hired were arrested in 2018 in connection with Shock’s shooting.

Mallory Stewart pleaded guilty earlier this year in San Joaquin Superior Court to first-degree murder with a weapons enhancement for pulling the trigger. Stewart will join Lee at the May 16 sentencing, said San Joaquin County District Attorney’s officials.

Christopher Costello was found guilty in 2021 for his role in the murder-for-hire plot; and wheelman Raymond Jacquett IV, was sentenced to 15 years to life in 2019 for his role, San Joaquin County District Attorney’s officials said.