Rapist in DNA Test Case Gets 48 Years

A judge sentenced a rapist to 48 years in state prison Friday after a trial in which a controversial new DNA fingerprinting test was admitted as evidence.

Barrett Littleton, 45, of Pacific Beach received the maximum possible sentence from Superior Court Judge William Mudd, who also ordered Littleton to pay $10,000 to a crime victims restitution fund.

“If I had my way . . . I’d never allow you to see the light of day,” Mudd said. “You are that dangerous.”

Littleton received consecutive sentences for raping a 25-year-old Pacific Beach woman twice and forcing her to engage in oral copulation. Also included in the sentence is a 15-year term for Littleton’s three prior sex-related convictions in the 1970s.

The victim of the September, 1988, attack, who attended Friday’s sentencing, noted that Littleton was convicted of rape in 1972 and told the judge: “I’m not the first person he’s raped. He shows no remorse.”

“I think the notion that he could be productive (through rehabilitation) is ludicrous,” she said.

Mudd said a probation report characterized Littleton as arrogant. “You took the stand and the jury didn’t buy it. You, sir, are one extremely dangerous person,” the judge said.

Mudd also noted that, in the probation report, Littleton “admitted a habit of forcing himself on women.”

“He’s not capable of meaningful rehabilitation,” the judge concluded.

Littleton’s lawyer had opposed the introduction of the DNA fingerprinting evidence, but Mudd allowed it to be heard by the jury after weeks of hearings.

Laboratory tests showed that semen stains had a strong likelihood of being caused by Littleton, and the jurors that convicted him March 8 said the evidence provided corroboration to the victim’s identification of him.

Littleton’s case was the second in San Diego in which such genetic evidence was used in a trial and the first in which the defense attorney opposed its use.