Roy Charles Waller, the NorCal Rapist, was sentenced Friday to 897 years in prison following a conviction for assaulting nine women from 1991 to 2006.
Waller was convicted of 46 counts including kidnapping, forcible rape, oral copulation, sodomy, and foreign penetration in six counties, including Sonoma, Solano, and Contra Costa counties in the Bay Area.
Waller lived in Benicia and worked at the University of California at Berkeley for about 25 years before his arrest in September 2018.
“Nine victims waited for more than 20 years for this moment and it is only with the use of Investigative Genetic Genealogy and the science of DNA that it has come,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi said in a statement after Waller’s conviction. “This is their day.”
Investigators, in 2006, linked biological evidence from six cases to the same suspect, but the suspect’s DNA was not in California’s criminal database, prosecutors said.
A task force in 2006 and 2007 also failed to solve the case.
About two years ago, evidence left at one of the crime scenes was used to create a DNA profile.
That profile was meant to be used for investigative genetic genealogy, which led to some possible relatives of Waller, according to prosecutors.
Neither DNA nor genetic material from these potential relatives was given to law enforcement, prosecutors said.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office created family trees, which led them to Waller. He was arrested Sept. 18, 2018 after Sacramento police obtained an abandoned sample of DNA from his home in Benicia.
Waller’s DNA confirmed he was the NorCal Rapist, prosecutors said.
“It was a tough case,” Waller’s attorney Joseph Farina said Friday.
He said ultimately it was the DNA that sank Waller’s case. Waller wanted a trial, Farina said.
Waller said he will not admit to any of the crimes or apologize to any of the victims, Farina also said Friday.
According to prosecutors, 897-year sentence is the maximum allowed by law. Farina said the sentence was not a surprise based on his experience handling sex crime cases. Farina said he will file an appeal next week, which is standard practice.
I’m all for tough sentencing, especially certain crimes – but wouldn’t it make more sense to give him life in prison without parole. 897 years?
If his lawyers appeal and win, a life sentence will be less than life. This way, if he wins appeal, he’s still likely to be locked up for life. Even if his sentence gets reduced by 85%, he’ll still be locked up for over 100 years. At his age, he will die in prison regardless.
I’m more for the “one bullet” type of sentence
So he’ll be let out in a month due to Covid..
897 years, that’s just stupid…who thinks this crap up?
@Singledout – not crap. He was convicted of 46 crimes, each carries a punishment of imprisonment of X years. Add them all up and you get 897 total, if served consecutively. This will ensure that he will never get out, because even with time served and potential parole after having served half the sentence, he’d still be in for 448.5 years.
I don’t think that any one of his crimes would have resulted in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. That punishment is applied for murder 1.
Of course I am not a lawyer – would be cool if there was one who could explain the penal code.
The same people that will let him out in six months.
Life without parole is a sentence give to serious felonies, including rape. It’s not just for murder one. It’s also given to repeat offenders.
@Singledout, please read the above comment. It was a very smart sentencing unlike…
“would be cool if there was one who could explain the penal code.”
LOL ……… he said ‘PENAL’ code.
I think they did the 897 years more for the families. He probably got a certain amount of years for each offense. That would give the families a sense of justice knowing that he was served a certain amount of years for the crime against their family member.
Active rapist 1991 to 2006 arrested in 2018. Life w/o parole would be good. Maybe that doesn’t hold up in today’s courts.
as long as he is placed in GenPop, justice will be served…..
Some inside consider it an honor to pack trash a chute.
With time served times two, good behavior, and China Virus concerns, he’ll be on the streets Monday.
Just execute him