Keith Asberry has been sentenced to 75 years to life after he was found guilty for kidnapping, robbery, rape and other felonies connected to two attacks that occurred seven years apart in Berkeley.
The sentence, announced by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in a news release on Friday, is the maximum for the charges.
In 2008, Asberry approached a teenager as she was getting in her car on Allston Way near Berkeley High School, then used a gun to force the victim to drive to a dead-end street where he sexually assaulted her. He then forced her to use her debit card to withdraw $200 from her bank account.
In 2015, he walked into the home of a victim who had just finished unloading her car from a shopping trip. She fought back, and Asberry fled.
In both attacks, the women were strangers.
The jury found Asberry, 40, guilty of kidnapping to commit a sex crime, kidnapping to commit robbery, forcible oral copulation, forcible rape and other charges.
“Today’s sentencing is a testament to our commitment to seeking justice for victims of sexual violence,” Price said in a statement. “Keith Asberry’s actions were vile, and this sentence reflects the severity of the crime and its impact on the victim.”
She has previously criticized the delay between the crime and filing of charges.
“It is important to note, justice was delayed in the 2008 case because the rape kit was not tested until 2014, six years after the crime,” she said. “This resulted in Mr. Asberry being allowed to roam free, searching for more victims, which resulted in the attack in 2015.”
The guilty verdict — which carries a life sentence — came almost exactly three months after Asberry was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of Randhir Kaur, a 37-year-old UCSF dental student who was killed inside her Albany home. In that trial, Asberry’s defense attorney blamed an Antioch gang member who was found in possession of the murder weapon and was arrested later that year in connection with a different shooting.
Staff writer Nate Gartrell contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com