SF man faces life in prison for fatal beating of Asian American grandmother

A 25-year-old man convicted of killing an elderly woman as part of an anti-Asian crime spree in 2019 will likely receive a life sentence without parole, prosecutors announced this week.

Catch up: On Nov. 4, a jury found Keonte Gathron guilty of first-degree murder and 24 other felonies related to a series of violent crimes committed over 13 days in January 2019. The murder victim, 88-year-old Yik Oi Huang, was a Chinese immigrant who had lived in Visitacion Valley for three decades. Huang was attacked on Jan. 8 while doing her morning qigong exercises at a neighborhood playground, sustaining severe injuries including a broken skull and fractures to her arms and neck. She died from her injuries nearly a year later.

Gathron committed seven robberies during his two-week crime spree, selecting victims he perceived as vulnerable. Six were of Asian descent with limited English proficiency, three were elderly and three were minors walking to or from school. Gathron represented himself and denied responsibility during his trial, claiming authorities had used artificial intelligence to alter surveillance footage and DNA evidence, though he provided no proof.

Latest development: Superior Court Judge Eric Fleming is reportedly set to sentence Gathron to two life terms, including one without parole eligibility, plus 31 additional years in state prison. The information came from District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who said justice has been achieved. “Mr. Gathron is now being held accountable for his heinous crimes that targeted vulnerable victims and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Jenkins said Tuesday, adding the sentence hopefully gives families “a sense that justice was done.” Gathron is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 3.

Charles Jung, a community organizer who spoke with Huang’s family after the verdict, had called the conviction a “painful affirmation” that anti-Asian violence existed long before pandemic-era hate crimes.