SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, January 29, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced that a jury found Lamar S. Paschall, 36, of San Francisco, guilty of eight felonies, including forcible rape, sodomy, forcible oral copulation, assault with intent to commit rape, and kidnapping to commit robbery.  The suspect 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.”

Court records revealed that on January 6, 2002, the victim, a 20 year-old woman at the time of the incident was walking home after work when she was approached by Paschall and another man, Kenneth Babers near Golden Gate Avenue and Elm Alley. Both men engaged the victim in conversation and walked with her towards a darker region of the street.

During the conversation, Paschall approached the victim from behind and gripped his hand around her face and instructed her to pull her pants down.  He forced her to orally copulate Babers. The victim vomited as she complied.

As Babers acted as a lookout, Paschall proceeded to rape the victim while threatening to kill her if she screamed.  After the assault, Paschall and Babers forced the victim to go to several ATM machines to withdraw money from her accounts. The suspects made two transactions before walking to a doughnut shop where Paschall waited outside as the victim and Babers entered the store. On their way out of the store, the victim came up with an excuse to go back inside where she informed the cashier that she had been raped. The cashier shut and locked the door and contacted the police.

Four years passed before DNA evidence collected from the victim 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. Officers from the SFPD tried to contact the victim to pursue charges against Paschall, but were unable to locate her until 2011.

In 2011, an inspector assigned to the case received a search warrant for a DNA reference swab from Paschall.  He was located in 2011 and a genetic analysis of his DNA matched semen found from the rape exam of the victim on the night of the attack 9 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 Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai. “She deserves all the credit.”

The Honorable Jeffrey Ross presided over the case. This successful prosecution of the case is the result of an investigation conducted by San Francisco Police Department Inspectors Dennis Martel and Daniel Everson. Special thanks go to District Attorney Inspector Lisette Souza, Victim Advocate Mirelle Raza, and Paralegal Nina Stellini. Additional recognition goes to Assistant District Attorneys Diane Knoles, Lili Nguyen, and Allison Macbeth for their pre-trial litigation assistance. Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai prosecuted the case.