Tears Flow as Judge Sends Mary E. Lee Park Robber Back to Jail

Quiet sobs and heavy tears flowed from the gallery on Wednesday afternoon, when Judge Tom Gossett passed down a 12-year sentence to Jaime Ramirez, who had just pleaded true to a list of eight probation violations.

The emotionally charged hearing lasted roughly an hour and a quarter, and circulated around years of violations and testimony professing change since a conviction was deferred on the first-degree aggravated robbery charge on April 1, 2008.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Ferguson made no recommendation to the judge for punishment and offered no plea bargain in the case, instead calling to the stand an San Angelo Police Depatment detective who initially worked the investigation. Following the detective was Ramirez’s probation officer, who highlighted the offense and his behavior while on community supervision over the past six and a half years.

According to a complaint composed by detective Lynn Dye, Albert Montanez and Raquel Fuentes, who were both out-of-towners, were out at Mary Lee Park on Jan. 20, 2008 preparing to walk the pier, when a silver Chevrolet Silverado pulled up behind them with four men inside.

When Montanez exited the vehicle, the visage of a large, heavyset man and a smaller accompaniment appeared, both bearing pistols and yelling for Montanez to get on the ground.

The two men, later identified as then 21-year-old Jaime Ramirez and Terrell Rashad Allen, took Montanez’s cell phone, wallet and a camo gun case from the trunk of the car.

“Fuentes advised that a very large subject came to the side of the car and took her purse and pointed a handgun and told her not to look,” Dye wrote. “…Montanez stated that they were yelling at them not to look or they would shoot them.”

After the robbery, victims Montanez and Fuentes crossed the street to the Town and Country located at 7410 Kickerbocker Road and called the police. The suspects were later located and brought back to the victims, who positively identified Ramirez as the heavyset man and Allen as his accomplice.

On April 1, 2008, Ramirez pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 10 years probation. By August of that year, he’d accrued a list of parole violations including failure to report, failure to complete community service, failure to pay fees and failure to pay for a urinalysis, that resulted in Ramirez being placed on a 30-day house arrest, a probation officer explained to the court.

Those violations continued, she said, into 2010, resulting in his probation being amended in lieu of revocation on several occasions that included various periods of confinement.

In 2011, repeated violations landed Ramirez in a Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility (SAFPF), where he spent approximately six months before being released to a half-way house.

While in the half-way house, Ramirez was unsuccessfully discharged for bringing a cell phone in and leaving with another defendant, and was also reported to have used meth and consumed alcohol while on a job search.

“He’s been amended seven different times for various different reasons and sanctions and he hasn’t been compliant,” his probation officer told the court from the witness stand.

She noted that from April 2013 to January 2015, Ramirez had not made one of the $128 payments due each month, and stated that he had only reported four times since May 2013, and that he had only completed 113 of 320 community service hours, the last of which were done in June 2010.

“…he’s basically blown us off for the past six years,” Ferguson summarized, adding emphasis when he noted, ‘it’s easy to show up’.

In his cross-examination, defense attorney Nathan Butler focused on the drugs and alcohol, intimating that his client’s indiscretions were seated in an underlying substance abuse problem.

“…he tested clean when he did show up,” Butler said.

Then, to drive the point home, he called Ramirez’s mother to the stand and asked her to shed some light on her son’s mental state the first few years of his probation.

“He was going through a hard time with his wife back then when he first got his charges,” Connie Davila said. She explained that years prior, her son was going through a divorce and his wife had taken his kids away. Around that time, his grandfather died, who was like a father to him, and then his own father died.

Jaime Ramirez fell into despair, his mother told the court, clouded by the faulty judgment of a man entering adulthood, who was facing the loss of everything he knew and loved. At this point, she said, he began struggling with alcohol.

Ramirez’s sister agreed as she testified on his behalf, speaking openly about her brother’s troubled past and his bout with drugs and alcohol.

“I didn’t even like to be around him,” his sister, Yesenia Vera said. “…he was very rebellious. He didn’t care. He didn’t have a role in either of his kids’ lives and now he does.”

Both mother and sister agreed that since his last trip to the SAFPF, Ramirez had changed for the better, now with a new focus on life, work and family. They spoke of how he he’s active in two of his sons’ schooling and how he provides and cares for his sick fiancée and her afflicted grandmother. Ramirez, they insinuated, had done a complete 180.

The final witness to speak on his behalf was Ramirez’s fiancée Ariel Padilla, mother to two of his sons. She detailed how due to an illness, both herself, her grandmother and the couple’s two sons are entirely dependant upon Ramirez for support.

“I’d probably go downhill,” Padilla said, when Butler asked what would happen if her fiancée was sent to prison. “My car, my son, financially stable [sic] (financial stability), emotionally, everything [would go downhill].”

Padilla promised that if the judge were to allow Ramirez to continue his probation she would see to it that he fulfilled all of the responsibilities and requirements attached to ensure that he remains out of jail and completes the probation successfully.

In cross-examination, Ferguson asked only one question: ‘How long have you two been together?’ Padilla responded, ‘five years’.

After all had pleaded for mercy on his behalf, Ramirez took the stand to provide his own testimony. He said that when he learned that his probation officer had filed a motion to revoke his probation, he just assumed he would automatically go to jail and didn’t believe he’d be given the opportunity to continue even if he followed the rules.

“[I didn’t report] just because I didn’t think there was going to be probation after [the MTR], so I was just trying to make money for my family so they’d be set when I do go,” Ramirez told the court.

He stated that, “reporting’s not a problem,” and explained that “the majority of the time that I didn’t report was because I was on the run.”

Ramirez admitted to the actions that had led up to the hearing, and tried to add context by repeating the circumstances as his mother had, before breaking down.

“At first my little boy was scared of me. And now—“ he paused briefly as tears formed and rolled down his cheeks, “he calls me dad now.”

When Ramirez stepped down, Ferguson made his closing arguments to Judge Gossett, drawing attention back to the offense that initiated the supervision initially and noting that the victim’s lives will be forever changed.

Ferguson emphasized that probation is a privilege, not a right, then reminded the court of the seven prior probation amendments.

“He doesn’t even do the free things,” Ferguson said, referencing the monthly reports and community service. “…he’s totally blown us off since August 2008…Judge, there’s not jury here today, but you’re setting the community standards…there’s nothing at all that says he’s going to figure it out…”

Following Butler’s rebuttal, Judge Gossett took a moment before ordering that Ramirez’s probation be revoked. He was sentenced to 12 years, and was credited time for the periods spent in SAFPF and the county jail while on probation.

“I wish the judge would have given him another chance,” Ramirez’s sister said after the hearing. “He was my only role model I have.”

Connie Davila, Ramirez’s mother, was distraught after the ruling and almost in disbelief. “They don’t have a heart,” she said. “We pleaded for him. They just took my grandson’s father away from him and he barely was getting to know him.”

Ramirez’s sons are 2 and 4 years old.