SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Paul Eugene Robinson is one of Sacramento’s most notorious serial rapists. He’s also known to some as the Second Story Rapist because of his pattern of attacking victims who lived on the second floor of apartment buildings.
Gwyn Lamar, one of the survivors of his attacks, is speaking out because Robinson could soon be eligible for parole, 44 years before the end of his sentence.
Lamar’s life was shattered in 1994 when she was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted by a stranger. DNA evidence would later identify that stranger as Paul Eugene Robinson.
“I was having just the normal life of a 20 something, and one morning, I was awoken earlier... by a man in a hoodie coming at me with a knife,” Lamar said.
“For several years, I was so afraid of everything and everyone, and I was afraid to go out,” she added.
She wasn’t alone. Robinson was accused of a string of rapes in the 90s.
Now, Lamar is reacting to the news Robinson will be eligible for parole under California law next month.
“With the possibility of him getting out again or being out there, I’m worried that I’ll have that same sense of is he in this same building? Is he behind me in the grocery store?” Lamar said.
Micki Links, a retired detective sergeant with Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, has been on the case from the beginning.
“I actually was one of the first responders to a lot of the rapes that were going on at that time that were part of this series,” Links said.
She recalled what made Robinson’s crimes stand out.
“Sacramento has had our fair share of violent predators, sexual predators, and he’s one of the worst,” she said.
Links is not happy with the news that Robinson will soon be eligible for parole.
“This man has not done his time, and in my opinion, he does not need to get out until he has done every day of what he was sentenced to which was 65 years,” Links said.
So how is it Paul Robinson could be eligible for parole? He qualifies under the Elderly Parole Program.
The Elderly Parole Program was created by Penal Code 3055 in 2018 for people 60 or older who had served 25 years of their sentence. It was then expanded in January of 2021 by Assembly Bill 3234 which lowered the age to 50 and the number of years served to 20.
Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert prosecuted Robinson in his original trial in 2000.
“Now, we’re looking at a guy that was initially sentenced to 65 years who’s now looking at eligibility at 21, and under today’s law, he would have gotten life,” Schubert said.
Today, it’s easier to prosecute sex crimes and the punishments are harsher.
“When somebody breaks into somebody’s home and really destroys their sense of safety, we should treat those harsh,” Schubert said.
According to statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, less than 20% of people eligible for parole actually get it.
“Now, maybe, he won’t get out. Maybe, they’ll say he’s not eligible, he’s too dangerous, but, the fact is, is that these crime victims will now suffer again because of this insanity,” Schubert said.
It’s a feeling echoed by survivor Gwyn Lamar.
“I think, when lawmakers are doing that, they’re forgetting the victims. They’re forgetting what these kind of crimes do to families and not just to me, not just to the victims but to the families,” Lamar said.
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