OAKLAND — In a rare legal maneuver, a Bay Area man has pleaded no contest to murdering an Emeryville couple in 2019, clearing the way for him to be sentenced to life in prison with no trial.
Keith Riley, 40, accepted two first-degree murder convictions with gun enhancements at a Jan. 8 court hearing. He is set to be sentenced on Feb. 9, and remains in jail on a no-bail hold. The first-degree murder charges alone, without the gun enhancements, carry sentences of 25 years to life.
Riley initially faced special circumstances charges of murder in the course of a robbery, which would have made him eligible for a sentence of life without parole if convicted.
Riley was charged with murdering Emeryville residents Ryan Wasilausky and his girlfriend Giovanna “Gigi” Giannini, both 20, on Sept. 28, 2019. Prosecutors alleged that Riley robbed Wasilausky of a Cuban gold chain and other jewelry and killed both victims while the three headed to a Rolling Loud concert at the Oakland Coliseum that day.
The evidence against Riley included home videos, witness statements, security footage and phone records, which established that Wasilausky offered Riley a ride to the concert that day. After killing the couple on the 500 block of Douglas Avenue in East Oakland, Riley allegedly ran a few blocks away, called a friend for a ride out of the area and said something to the effect of, “I owe you my life,” when the driver showed up, according to a transcript of the August 2022 preliminary hearing.
At the time of the killings, Riley was working as a security guard for the cannabis company Runtz. He may have met Wasilausky through that connection, as Wasilausky was friends with the company’s co-founder, a rapper who goes by the stage name Yung LB, according to witness testimony at the preliminary hearing.
The judge who heard evidence at the preliminary hearing said there was “no doubt” in his mind that Riley was responsible for the double murder and upheld the charges and enhancements, clearing the way for Riley to go to trial. That trial was scheduled to take place on Jan. 8, the same day Riley formally agreed to change his plea from not guilty to no contest and accept the convictions.
According to Wasilausky’s obituary, he was born in Walnut Creek but grew up in Dublin and was a 2017 graduate of Dublin High School. He was in his third year studying business at Cal State East Bay. The obituary says that he was a self-starter from a young age, took pleasure in showering his family with love and gifts and enjoyed traveling with his beloved girlfriend, “Gigi.”
Giannini, a Daly City native, was killed just two days before her 21st birthday, after her mother had already written her a birthday card.
“The day you were born I loved you more than life itself. TODAY Twenty-one beautiful years later, in just a blink of an eye, you’ve become this beautiful woman inside and out,” the letter read, according to Giannini’s obituary. “You have taught me so much about life, love and forgiveness … I pray that your path in life is filled with light, health, peace and happiness.”
