Westside Rapist Put Behind Bars

By Lookout Staff

Jelani Efron King, 22, the convicted rapist who terrorized the Westside for five months, was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison Thursday.

Known as the Westside Rapist, King had pleaded no contest on October 5 to seven counts of rape, a plea that led to a sentence that makes him eligible for a parole hearing in 2042, when he is 64.

Without the plea agreement, King would have faced the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The agreement spared the victims from testifying in court.

Before going to prison, King wrote letters to all his victims explaining that he had raped them because he felt rejected and unloved. The letters were nearly identical except that the paragraphs were reshuffled.

King was arrested in April of 1999 following an intense manhunt by a task force including investigators from the state Department of Justice, LAPD, Santa Monica Police and University of California - Los Angeles campus police.

King was linked by DNA evidence to six of seven rapes. He was charged with 63 felony counts, including 15 counts of forcible rape. Other charges included 23 burglaries and five counts of robbery.

Before his arrest, King, who was unemployed, raped women in Santa Monica, Venice and Palms, with his attacks becoming more and more violent. He also broke into dozens of homes near the UCLA campus.

Shortly after his arrest, King was assaulted by another inmate as he was entering his cell in Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. King suffered cuts to his left cheek near his eye before the assault, which lasted seconds, was quelled by verbal commands from deputies.