Crime & Safety
Man Sentenced to Prison for Berkeley Hammer Attack
The attack came at a Black Lives Matter protest, when one protester turned on another.
BERKELEY, CA - An Oakland man was sentenced today to two years in state prison for attacking a fellow protester with a hammer during a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Berkeley in December 2014.
Jayne Waller, 21, was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for attacking a 55-year-old man and one count of second-degree commercial burglary for the incident at the Radio Shack store at Shattuck Avenue and Dwight Way the night of Dec. 7, 2014.
But Waller's attorney, Dan Siegel, said Waller recently reached an agreement with prosecutors in which he pled no contest to one count of assault and the other charges, including an enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury, were dismissed.
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Prosecutors said Waller attacked the 55-year-old man with a hammer when he tried to stop some protesters from damaging the Radio Shack store.
The victim suffered serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
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The incident was captured on video and store surveillance but police initially were unable to identify the suspect.
Berkeley police said they identified Waller as a possible suspect last summer and when they interviewed him he confessed to the hammer attack.
Police estimate that the Radio Shack store suffered $6,000 in damage and lost $8,000 worth of merchandise.
The protest on Dec. 7, 2014, was one of a series of such events that occurred around the country at that period in response to the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the death of Eric Garner in New York from an officer's chokehold.
Waller had been free on bail until he was remanded into custody and sent to state prison today after he was sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucchi.
Siegel said Waller's two-year term "was a reasonable outcome" under the circumstances because he could have seen sentenced to up to six or eight years if he'd been convicted of all the charges against him.
Siegel said Waller "acknowledged his actions very early on and apologized for them" and wrote a letter of apology to the victim.
--Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock
