Prosecuting attorneys Ross Taylor (right) and Jeff Rosell talk about the guilty verdicts of Joseph Raymond Ramirez of Watsonville Tuesday outside the Superior Court of Santa Cruz in the 2003 shooting death of Ricardo Guzman.

SANTA CRUZ — A former Watsonville resident was found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder Tuesday for the shootings of two cousins on a field at Rolling Hills Middle School in March 2003.

Joseph Raymond Ramirez, 25, faces a sentence of 90 years to life in prison for gunning down Ricardo Guzman, 30, and seriously wounding Armando Guzman. Ramirez also faces gang enhancements.

It didn’t take long for jurors to come up with a verdict, as closing arguments in the six-week case wrapped up Monday.

“A violent murderer and gang member will be off the streets for the rest of his life, and the citizens of this community will be safer,” said Jeff Rosell, who helped Ross Taylor prosecute the case.

Ramirez, who showed no outward reaction when the verdict was read, testified on his own behalf. He claimed that he acted in self-defense after an attempt to purchase heroin turned into a misunderstanding.

He said the Guzmans’ house was a known drug house, and that he followed Ricardo and Armando Guzman and another relative, Federico Guzman, who was not injured, from a Herman Court home to Rolling Hills in an effort to score some drugs. He said the heroin deal went wrong, and an altercation occurred after he placed his hand on Federico Guzman’s chest in an effort to prevent him from leaving.

According to his testimony, one of the Guzmans then pulled a knife and the three began to kick and punch him several times as he curled into a ball on the ground. Ramirez said he then drew the gun and clip from his waistband, put them together and fired, striking Armando Guzman in the face.

Ramirez said he then turned to leave, but was jumped from behind by Ricardo Guzman, which caused the gun to fall to the ground. After the two briefly wrestled, they both went for the gun, and Ramirez said he heard the gun fire, assumed he had been shot, but then saw Guzman’s body.

“His hands dropped,” a weeping Ramirez said during his testimony. “I looked at him, and he wasn’t moving. He was just lying there.”

Jurors, however, didn’t believe that story.

The prosecution contended that the Guzmans were not drug dealers, and instead that Ramirez was a Norteńo gang member and falsely believed the Guzmans to be Sureńos. Ramirez went to the park with the intention of shooting the Guzmans for gang reasons, Taylor said, noting that Ramirez asked to see the belt of one of the Guzmans, which was blue, a color worn by Sureńo gang members.

The jurors agreed, saying that Ramirez was guilty of a gang enhancement for the shooting of Armando Guzman. They ruled that there should be no gang enhancement in Ricardo Guzman’s death, which Taylor said wasn’t that surprising because Ricardo Guzman chased after Ramirez.

“These were heinous and cruel crimes and it was perhaps worse that the defendant came in and blamed the victims,” Taylor said.

Ramirez fled the scene after the shooting, getting a friend, who early on was the prime suspect, to drive him to Salinas after stashing items in the friend’s room. The items were later found by police; witnesses saw Ramirez when he made his way toward his friend’s house from Rolling Hills. The friend later told police that Ramirez was the shooter.

Ramirez made his way to Colorado, where he was arrested in 2005, not before telling friends details about the shootings, Taylor said.

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*Photo by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 6/25/08 edition)

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