Pleasanton man sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for 'heinous' murder, dismemberment of girlfriend

A Pleasanton man who was convicted of second-degree murder for killing his girlfriend nearly a year ago and dismembering her body was formally sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison without the possibility of probation Tuesday morning in a packed Oakland courtroom.

About 50 people, including family and friends of victim Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner, watched as others read their victim impact statements before Joseph Roberts, 43, was read his fate.

“Mr. Roberts, in my decades of work in the criminal justice system, I have witnessed many heinous crimes and also many tragedies,” Alameda County Superior Court Judge Scott Patton said at the July 2 sentencing hearing. “Imani’s murder is a heartbreaking tragedy … your crime is one of the most heinous crimes I have ever seen.”

Roberts was initially convicted of the murder on May 13 following a jury trial.

Buckner, who was 27 at the time of his death, had met Roberts at Golden Gate University Law School in 2019, according to a news release from the Alameda County District Attorney's Office following the jury's decision.

The two lived together in an apartment in Pleasanton.

According to the district attorney's press release, Pleasanton Police Department records showed that over the years, officers were called to the couple's apartment for various welfare checks and domestic violence calls.

At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, several friends and family members spoke about how they saw a pattern of abuse while Buckner was with Roberts and how he manipulated Buckner into distancing herself from her loved ones.

“He took my first child away from me by turning her against me and making her believe that she wasn’t loved, that I didn’t care about her, that I couldn’t be trusted, that I was the enemy,” S. Jamila Buckner, Rachel’s mother, said in her victim impact statement Tuesday.

Buckner's mother also explained that she didn't recognize her own daughter when she was with Roberts and always felt like she had to look over her shoulder when Roberts visited her home.

She also said Roberts allegedly assaulted her and her own mother – Buckner's grandmother – at his home.

Other close friends of Buckner said in their victim impact statements that they saw Roberts yelling and being aggressive toward her on multiple occasions and knew she was in a dangerous relationship.

But despite multiple stops by Pleasanton police, no action was ever taken against Roberts while other Buckner family members and friends said they saw the abuse happening.

Then, sometime last year, Buckner disappeared — Roberts never reported her missing. After she disappeared, Alameda Police Department officers responded to a report of suspicious circumstances at the Harbor Bay Club on Bay Farm Island in Alameda on July 20, 2023, according to the district attorney's office.

When police arrived at the scene, they found the dismembered body of a woman inside a black trash bag, which later turned out to be Buckner's remains.

“When he beat, tortured, murdered and dismembered my daughter, I felt like my insides had been ripped out of my soul,” S. Jamila Buckner told the court.

She said that in addition to traumatizing her, Buckner's grandmother and other family members and friends, Roberts also traumatized Buckner's 4-year-old child, who is having to deal with the difficult realization that his mother is dead.

Roberts was arrested on Sept. 6, 2023, in connection with Buckner's death by the U.S. Marshals Service and Pleasanton and Alameda police, according to the district attorney's office.

According to the Alameda County Superior Court Criminal Case Portal, Roberts had pleaded not guilty at two plea hearings last September and October. But according to the district attorney's office, prosecutors presented compelling evidence to the jury at his trial two months ago that proved Roberts was connected to Buckner's death.

A crucial piece of evidence was DNA that matched Roberts' DNA, which was found on the duct tape used to seal the trash bag containing Buckner's dismembered body, according to the prosecutor's office.

However, Patton told a packed courtroom Tuesday that during the trial, the pathologist who studied Buckner's body was unable to determine the cause of death. He said the cause of death was determined to be homicide, but because they couldn't prove the cause – and because there were no additional charges that would have increased the sentence – the court could only impose a sentence of 15 years to life.

Patton said that even if he had declined the possibility of probation, there was no word or action he could have said or done that could have brought any relief to the Buckner family and their friends or brought them back.

Roberts waived his right to comment Tuesday, but his criminal attorney, Anne Beles, said that while she knew the sentence would be what it was, she hoped that after sentencing, all parties involved in the case could get “some semblance of peace.”

As for family and friends, many said they wished Buckner were still alive because she had so much to live for, was destined for great things and deserved to be with her daughter. But now that she's gone, they said they hope to find some comfort in knowing Roberts can never hurt her or any other woman again.

“The only solace I can see in this whole tragic situation is that Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner is finally at peace … and no longer living in fear and no longer being tormented and tortured,” Judy Carter, a longtime friend of S. Jamila Buckner, told the court.

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