An Alameda County prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday that a five-time felon should be found guilty of multiple felony charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and kidnapping an 18-year-old college freshman in separate incidents in Berkeley last year.
Prosecutor Nick Homer alleged that Alphonzo McInnis, 28, of Berkeley, who has a prior conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse, used a realistic-looking, all-black replica gun to instill fear in his alleged victims in the incidents in the 1500 block of Addison Street on April 19, 2018, and in the 2400 block of College Avenue at about 4:30 a.m. on April 28, 2018.
Homer said, "The evidence beyond doubt shows his guilt."
Homer said that in the first incident McInnis, a former Berkeley High School student who has a girlfriend and three children, grabbed the 15-year-old girl as she walked to school, pressed what appeared to be a gun into her side and told her not to scream or look at him or he would shoot her.
Homer said McInnis told the girl, "Don't scream, don't look at me. I have a gun and will shoot you."
Homer said McInnis then led the girl to the backyard of a nearby residence, where he groped her and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
Homer said that in the second incident McInnis walked around the area near a dormitory on College Avenue and appeared to be looking for someone he could take by surprise.
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The prosecutor said the 18-year-old freshman had been talking with a friend at a dorm across the street and at 4:30 a.m. decided to walk one block across the street to get back to her own dorm room.
Homer said McInnis grabbed the young female student, put his arm around her head and pointed what appeared to be a gun to her head but she managed to escape and get safely into her dorm after a struggle at the door.
Homer said DNA evidence connects McInnis to both incidents.
The prosecutor said when police recovered McInnis' weapon at his home it turned out to be a fake gun but said it looked real enough that it frightened both victims.
McInnis is charged with two counts of forcible rape of a minor, forcible sexual penetration on a minor, oral copulation of a minor, two counts of attempted second-degree robbery and kidnapping enhancements for his alleged attack on the 15-year-old girl and with kidnapping for rape and robbery for the alleged attack on the college student.
McInnis' lawyer Sydney Levin asked jurors to find him not guilty because she thinks the prosecution didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Levin also said the two alleged victims have changed their stories over time.
Jurors will begin deliberating on Thursday morning.
Prosecutors say that McInnis was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse in Contra Costa County in 2008. His most recent conviction was in Alameda County on Jan. 28, 2015, for second-degree robbery for allegedly robbing six gas stations on University Avenue in Berkeley.
In addition, prosecutors say McInnis has three other prior convictions in Contra Costa County: for second-degree burglary in 2011, possession of a firearm by a felon in 2013 and grand theft of a firearm in 2012.
