A Berkeley police sergeant has testified that a teenager arrested after the stabbing of a 72-year-old woman in 2014 was recorded admitting to killing “the old lady” and telling God he did not want to go to jail for life.
Prosecutors presented those statements, as well as a secretly recorded jailhouse conversation between suspect Kamau Berlin and his mother that led police to the alleged murder weapon, during the second day of a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Berlin, now 20, is facing a murder charge for the September 2014 killing and attempted carjacking of Nancy McClellan. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rhonda Burgess heard evidence in the hearing this week and said she will rule May 4 on whether the case will go to trial.
Berkeley police Sgt. Peter Hong testified Wednesday that Berlin was left alone and handcuffed in a police car after his arrest. A detective had left a recorder on the front seat, which Hong said captured Berlin “thinking out loud,” talking to himself, when he “admitted to killing ‘the old lady.' ”
"'Work with me, God, I know I did this, I stabbed the lady,' " Hong said he heard Berlin say in the recording, which was not played in court. ...