Ramirez Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Attack on Sikh Taxi Driver

At the hearing, Aman Kaur spoke on behalf of the family.  She proclaimed it was not a happy day but the family was satisfied that laws were followed and grateful to the efforts of law enforcement for the quick apprehension and resolution of this case.

She expressed shock and outrage at the fact he was attacked because he wore a turban and because of his race.  “We didn’t think this would happen in our community,” she read.  She said they would continue to fight racism.

In the end, she said that they forgive both Mr. Ramirez and Johnny Morales, the co-defendant who played a smaller role in the attack, and prayed that they could find peace.

Deputy DA Ryan Couzens spoke out against what he called a brutal and senseless attack, as bad as any that he had seen.

Defense Attorney J. Toney disagreed that racism or hate motivated this crime.  He argued that Mr. Ramirez is not a racist, and he bases that on a number of conversations they have had.  He understands that the court wants to hold him to the previous plea agreement and he accepts that.

But he did point out that Mr. Ramirez did not go looking for or singling out the victim.  What happened was, instead, a spontaneous argument that escalated into hateful words flying, and it went too far.

Mr. Ramirez does not have a hate problem he argued, he has a drinking problem.  A letter from Mr. Ramirez’ wife asked that he get treatment for his substance abuse and that was put into the court’s order, as well.

At the previous hearing we saw Pedro Ramirez speak on his own behalf for the first time.

He was calm and well-spoken.  He argued that he wanted to take back his plea due to the fact that he felt pressured into accepting it.  He argued that his attorney had failed to investigate and interview witnesses.

He said he had requested to waive time to think more about it, but he was pressured into the plea by his attorney and the Public Defender Tracie Olson.

He described the incident as a fist fight between two men.  He said that he knows he faces heavy charges, even life, if convicted.

He claimed that, during the dispute, the taxi driver assaulted him.  That he poked him in the face, and he responded by punching the man in the nose.

Mr. Ramirez told the court that he had told Mr. McCarthy that he had not wanted to take the plea.  He said that Tracie Olson had talked to his wife and brother-in-law and convinced him to take the plea to avoid life.

He said he had been under the impression that he only faced a year in county jail, and that he had only ten hours to consider.

Despite Mr. Ramirez’ feeling, it is clear that 13 years was the best he was going to get.  In fact, we overhead his attorney mention that even had he beaten every charge he could beat, the best he could have gotten was 12 years.  The facts of the case and overwhelming evidence that he did assault the cab driver suggest that this was an appropriate punishment, even though we tend to agree with the defense that this was probably not racially-motivated but rather a dispute that got out of control.

We are more sympathetic to the plight of the co-defendant, who appears to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It is not clear to us that he participated in the assault.  There is evidence that he attempted to intervene, along with Mr. Ramirez’ wife, to stop the beating. 

Nevertheless, Mr. Morales did not want to roll the dice on a trial, and he has since been released from custody and can now work to put his life back in order.

We are encouraged to hear that the victim in this case is recovering.  This was a serious attack and for those reasons we believe that the 13-year term is appropriate.

—David M. Greenwald reporting