San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will not seek the death penalty for an alleged gang member accused of murdering a father and two of his sons, a prosecutor said Thursday.
The announcement in San Francisco Superior Court means that Edwin Ramos will at most serve life in prison without parole if convicted of the June 22, 2008, slayings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16.
Scrap Be Lookin' Good in NorteƱo Red!
The decision is in keeping with Harris' campaign promise never to seek the death penalty. There had been speculation, however, that with Harris running for state attorney general next year, she might shift direction in an especially notorious crime.
Assistant District Attorney Harry Dorfman put an end to that speculation in court Thursday. "We will not seek the death penalty in this case," he told Judge Charles Haines.
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Tony Bologna's widow, Danielle Bologna, "is outraged," said Marti McKee, a spokeswoman for the family. "She feels that the city of San Francisco has let her and her family down."
Danielle Bologna and other relatives have sued the city, saying that authorities should have turned over Ramos, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, to federal authorities for deportation when he was arrested on gang-related offenses as a juvenile.
"She feels that not only did she lose half her family, she lost her home because she was forced to move so she could protect the rest of her family," McKee said. "With this decision, it will just never end."
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In the Ramos case, prosecutors have alleged three special circumstances that could have made him eligible for lethal injection - that the Bologna killings were gang-motivated, that they were committed as a drive-by attack, and that the shooter committed multiple murders.
No one in San Francisco has been sentenced to death since 1991, when Clifford Bolden, now 53, was convicted of the 1986 robbery and slaying of Michael Pedersen. Bolden is still appealing his sentence.
Sick. Just fucking sick.
1 comment:
Ramos,"If" convicted still has a chance of rehabilitaion when he finds religion, writes a book, a few poems or paintings. He could be on Oprah or Dr. Phil!.
Afterall Ramos is disenfranchised due to the City of San Francisco not providing counseling, proper housing and medical care to him.
Ask his mom, he is a good boy.
A San Frantic City jury just might acquit hime.
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