Los Angeles Times
By David Zahniser and Matt Hamilton
August 10, 2015
A
man who was in the U.S. illegally and charged with raping, torturing
and killing a Santa Barbara County woman last month had been arrested
repeatedly in recent years
— and was released from jail just days before the fatal attack,
authorities said.
Police
say Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez, 29, and another man broke into
the home of 64-year-old Marilyn Pharis in Santa Maria on July 24 and
attacked her with a hammer
and sexually assaulted her. Pharis, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who
worked at Vandenberg Air Force Base, died Aug. 1 from her wounds.
Ramirez,
who also goes by the name Victor Martinez, was booked into Santa
Barbara County Jail on drug and weapons charges July 17, according to
the Santa Barbara County
Sheriff's Office. He was ordered released July 20 after pleading no
contest to the weapons charge.
Pharis'
death came weeks after the arrest of a Mexican immigrant in connection
with the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old woman at San Francisco's
Embarcadero. The man charged
in that homicide, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, is a seven-time felon
who was in the country illegally and had been deported five times.
In
the Ramirez case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked Santa
Barbara custody officials to put a detention hold on him last year after
he was charged with
felony assault with intent to commit sexual assault. The detainer was
meant to ensure Ramirez would be transferred into federal custody before
his release.
But
his case was downgraded to a misdemeanor. Santa Barbara custody
officials concluded that keeping Ramirez would violate the state's Trust
Act, which allows local law
enforcement to hold inmates for immigration authorities only if they
have been charged with a serious crime.
The
county, like hundreds of other jurisdictions across the country, had
also determined that it could no longer honor immigration agency
requests to hold inmates beyond
their jail terms without a federal warrant or court order because of a
court ruling in a 2014 Oregon case.
The
effect of both the ruling and state law has created a "significant
legal and moral conflict" for sheriffs who are responsible for custody
decisions, Santa Barbara
sheriff's officials said in a statement. "It is imperative that the
federal government work to remedy this conflict and provide clear
guidance to California sheriffs."
On
Sunday, federal officials said they declined to issue an immigration
detainer on Ramirez last month because his case history failed to turn
up any deportations or felony
criminal convictions. They also asserted that the immigration agency
does not need to produce a warrant to be notified of a pending release.
Immigration
agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said her agency has lodged a formal
request with local law enforcement seeking notification before Ramirez's
release or transfer
from local custody. "Given the seriousness of the allegations
associated with this individual's arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement is monitoring the case closely," she said in a statement.
On
Friday, Santa Maria police Chief Ralph Martin denounced state and
federal detention policies for immigrants in the U.S. illegally, saying
at a news conference that
"there's a blood trail leading to the bedroom of Marilyn Pharis" from
Sacramento and Washington.
"You
know what we had to do? We had to cite [Ramirez] out," said the chief,
according to a report from Santa Barbara's KEYT-TV Channel 3. "That's
the problem with this
system. This is not just in Santa Maria. This is all over the state of
California and all over the United States."
Ramirez
and a second man, 20-year-old Jose Fernando Villagomez, face a number
of charges in the Santa Maria case, including first-degree murder and
carrying out "rape
by instrument." Villagomez is a U.S. citizen.
According
to the sheriff's timeline, Ramirez, who was identified as a transient,
was first apprehended in 2009 on suspicion of driving without a valid
license. He was
booked into the Santa Barbara jail system and released a few weeks
later.
Authorities
were unable to say Sunday whether he had been convicted of that
violation. At the time, custody officials did not receive any detention
requests from federal
immigration officials, sheriff's officials said.
In
May 2014, Ramirez was the subject of more serious charges: felony
assault with the intent to commit sexual assault, and felony possession
of a controlled substance.
In that instance, immigration officials filed a detainer asking the
sheriff to provide notice before Ramirez's release so that he could be
taken into U.S. custody, federal officials said.
Days
later, Ramirez's felony assault charge was replaced by a misdemeanor
count of battery. Soon after, sheriff's officials concluded they could
not hold Ramirez without
a federal warrant or court order from immigration authorities, a
decision based on the Oregon ruling.
In
the Oregon case, a federal court concluded that law enforcement
officials in Clackamas County had violated a woman's 4th Amendment
rights by holding her for immigration
authorities beyond her release date.
A sheriff's spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether Ramirez had been convicted on the 2014 battery charge.
On
July 17, Ramirez was booked on two more charges: a felony count of
possessing a concealed dagger or similar weapon and a misdemeanor charge
of possessing drug paraphernalia.
But the drug charge was dismissed days later, and the felony charge was
downgraded to a misdemeanor, according to the sheriff's office.
Ramirez
pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor weapons charge and was sentenced
to 30 days in jail — but not until the end of October. He was ordered
released July 20.
Santa
Barbara County Dist. Atty. Joyce Dudley said she too is frustrated with
state and federal policies on suspects who are in the country
illegally. She called the case
heartbreaking and said "more clarity" is needed between state and
federal laws.
"I personally attended the autopsy," she said. "The victim served our country for nearly 40 years. She bravely fought back."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment