BERKELEY — A 21-year-old Berkeley man will be sentenced in May to 21 years to life in prison for killing a 72-year-old woman during an attempted carjacking in 2014, a defense attorney said Tuesday.

Kamau Berlin pleaded no contest in December to second-degree murder and carjacking in connection with the Sept. 19, 2014, stabbing of Emeryville resident Nancy Jo McClellan. She died on Oct. 8, 2014, about three weeks after a passer-by interrupted the attack at Russell and Otis streets in Berkeley and called police. Related Articles Man arrested in Berkeley carjacking charged in killing 78-year-old Oakland man

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McClellan was a gardener at the Berkeley Zen Center at 1929 Russell St. and had attended a wedding there that day.

Police said Berlin stabbed McClellan twice in the neck while trying to steal her 2000 Honda Civic. In a covert patrol car recording presented as evidence by the prosecution at his preliminary hearing last year, Berlin admitted to killing McClellan and said she “did not deserve this.”

He told his mother during a recorded jail visit that he needed a ride home that night and began hitting the victim with brass knuckles after seeing her with a car, according to court testimony.

Police found a wounded McClellan in the backseat of her car. Berlin was arrested in the neighborhood with blood on his clothes and face.

Berlin was ordered to trial last year on charges of murder in the course of attempted carjacking and robbery — punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole — as well as elder abuse resulting in death, second-degree robbery and attempted carjacking with a deadly weapon. A formerly charged special allegation that Berlin tried to sexually assault McClellan was not proven and dismissed by the preliminary hearing judge.

All but the murder charge was dismissed as part of his plea deal in December.

Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Ryals said Tuesday that Berlin is expected to be sentenced in May.