By Danielle Eden C. Silva and Samantha Romero
Attorneys Debate Jury Instructions Prior to Closing
By Danielle Eden C. Silva
The scheduled closing for the trial of Jason Michael Lopez and Stephon Jerome Ramirez was moved to the afternoon session due to debates over jury instructions.
Deputy Public Defender Martha Sequeira, representing Mr. Ramirez, and Attorney James Granucci, representing Mr. Lopez, both expressed their disagreements with the jury instructions proposed by Deputy District Attorney Kyle Hasapes. The jury instructions were also noted by Judge Janene Beronio as incomplete in several sections.
The defense also brought up the multiple descriptions of gang activities that were included in the jury instructions. Many passages the court deemed unnecessary as they did not apply to the counts of this case, such as “homicide” which was corrected to “attempted homicide.” Mr. Hasapes noted he did list them during his questioning of Detective Barrantes, but the defense argued that without proof 
they should not be included.
Other corrections in word choice that occurred included changing the count description from an “inhabited” vehicle to an “occupied” vehicle, as the former referred to a motor home.
Additionally, several instructions also needed clarification. In the case of “flight,” the defense requested that the instructions state said flight did not take place immediately after the crime and that this instruction did not apply to Mr. Lopez. Several instructions needed clarification as to which defendant was indicated. Attorney Granucci also wanted to exclude some predicates for Mr. Lopez, except his pattern of criminal conduct and the fact he had been convicted of a felony.
One of the major topics the defense and prosecution debated over was the inclusion of the conspiracy instruction. Ms. Sequeira addressed concerns in including both the aiding and abetting charge with the conspiracy charge. She argued that Wharton’s Rule, according to Findlaw Legal Dictionary, is “a rule that prohibits the prosecution of two persons for conspiracy to commit a particular offense when the offense in question can only be committed by at least two persons.” Mr. Hasapes argued that the conspiracy instruction was within his legal right to use.
Overall, the defense argued the jury instructions were unclear and they could not properly give closing statements with the original format in which they were submitted.
Judge Beronio said she would continue to look over the jury instructions during the noon hour. The court would return for the afternoon session at 1:30 pm.
Closing Arguments in the Ramirez-Lopez Trial
By Samantha Romero
The trial for defendants Stephon Jerome Ramirez and Jason Michael Lopez reconvened Tuesday afternoon in Department 9.
Judge Janene Beronio began the court session by reading the jury instructions and recounting the alleged charges for each defendant. Shortly afterwards, Deputy District Attorney Kyle Hasapes, representing the People, began his argument.
Mr. Hasapes summarized the incident as Lopez making “a deadly mistake stereotyping (VB)” to be a gang member—a “Sureño.” When Lopez spotted VB at the Lighthouse Market, he is claimed to have asked, “Where are you from?” and “Where do you bang?” Basically asking, “What colors do you fly?” rephrased by Mr. Hasapes.
Although the defendant did not have a weapon at that time, said Mr. Hasapes, the defendants allegedly had about a 19-minute and 30-second gap to drive to a nearby residential area, grab a firearm, and locate the victims. According to Mr. Hasapes, it is at that point when Lopez screamed, “Pop-It! Pop-It!” to Ramirez.
Ramirez is claimed to have attempted to pull the trigger three to four times and, when he failed, the victim, FG, ran off and called the police. According to the testimony of the victims, there was no one present at the police station when they arrived and what was only about two minutes “felt like an eternity,” described Mr. Hasapes.
Mr. Hasapes also added that the victims were not compliant with police officers at first because they could not understand why they were being searched. The victims claimed to have just been at the market for purchasing meat to cook for a family Mother’s Day BBQ.
According to Mr. Hasapes, these are the most important pieces of evidence:
- the two statements by the witnesses, VB and FG;
- the ten-minute video of surveillance from the Lighthouse Market; and
- the single cartridge of ammunition found three to four feet away from the vehicle.
Rather than replaying portions of the surveillance footage, Mr. Hasapes used snapshots of the footage to recap the vital evidence that may have been missed by the jury members.
Without finishing his sentence, Mr. Hasapes was interrupted by Attorney James Granucci’s (representative for Lopez) objection and request to approach the bench.
“Really?” questioned Mr. Hasapes in disbelief as his arms swerved above his head. Judge Beronio allowed the parties to approach the bench, only to overrule the objection by the defense after a quick three minutes.
At this point, the courtroom was filled with an audience. Four ordinary citizens and six attorneys were observing the trial. The attorneys were familiar faces from both Yolo County’s District Attorney’s Office and the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office.
Mr. Hasapes continued to depict the path and direction of interaction between the victims and defendants, using the snapshots and Google maps images.
At the two-hour mark, Judge Beronio announced the afternoon recess and instructed the jury to reconvene Thursday morning at 9 a.m. to finish summations. Just as the last jury member vacated the courtroom, Deputy Public Defender Martha Sequeira, representing Mr. Ramirez, demanded to place their earlier objection on the court record.
Ms. Sequeira had been overruled by the court after having argued that the People should not have been allowed to show the snapshots of the footage as truthful evidence, especially because their witness, VB, had not seen the security footage. At this point, Mr. Hasapes felt obligated to add to the record that the footage was played for VB prior to the closing statements.
