SAN FRANCISCO – On January 29, 2018, San Francisco’s district attorney announced that a jury convicted Lamar S. Paschall, 36, of San Francisco, of eight felonies, including forcible rape, sodomy, forcible oral copulation, assault with intent to commit rape, and kidnapping to commit robbery. He now faces life in prison.
“This was one of the most grotesque and violent sexual assaults to occur in San Francisco in a long time,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “It took years to bring this man to justice, but I commend the police and the victim for their vigilance.”
“California Department of Justice criminalists and the DOJ DNA database provided the information needed to identify Paschall as a suspect,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “These scientists have a vital role in solving crime and removing violent predators from our streets. This case took many years to conclude due to several circumstances, but thankfully this predator is locked up, and California DOJ criminalists are among those to be thanked.”
According to court records, on January 6, 2002, the female victim, 20 years old at the time, was walking home after work when Paschall and another man, Kenneth Babers, approached her near Golden Gate Avenue and Elm Alley. The two men conversed with her and walked with her towards a darker part of the street.
During the conversation, Paschall approached the young woman from behind and gripped his hand around her face and ordered her to partially disrobe. Paschall then forced her to orally copulate Babers.
As Babers acted as a lookout, Paschall raped the victim while threatening to kill her if she screamed. After the assault, Paschall and Babers forced the victim to walk to several ATM machines to withdraw money from her accounts. They made two transactions before walking to a doughnut shop where Paschall waited outside as the young woman and Babers entered the store. On their way out, the young woman came up with an excuse to go back inside. There she told the cashier that she had been raped. The cashier shut and locked the door and called the police.
Nearly four years passed before the DNA evidence collected on the young woman matched a source in 2006. The California Department of Justice notified the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) that a genetic match was identified as Paschall’s. SFPD officers attempted to locate the young woman to pursue charges against Paschall, but could not find her until 2011.
In 2011, an inspector assigned to the case obtained a search warrant for a DNA reference swab from Paschall. Paschall was located in 2011 and a genetic analysis of his DNA matched semen found from the rape exam of the young woman on the night of the attack nine years earlier. Paschall was arrested on January 4, 2012.
Kenneth Babers was sentenced to 26 years in state prison on January 8, 2018.
“All I did was ask a courageous and inspiring woman to come to court and speak her truth,” said the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai. “She deserves all the credit.”
