For the second time, prosecutors in the Ralph Santos murder case
may lose a major piece of evidence as murder suspect Eusebio Ramos’
attorney asks the court to throw out his confession.
Salinas defense attorney, Arlene Allan filed a motion with the
court appealing a decision by Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias.
The motion asks the court to overturn part of a ruling Tobias made
Sept. 2.
For the second time, prosecutors in the Ralph Santos murder case may lose a major piece of evidence as murder suspect Eusebio Ramos’ attorney asks the court to throw out his confession.
Salinas defense attorney, Arlene Allan filed a motion with the court appealing a decision by Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias. The motion asks the court to overturn part of a ruling Tobias made Sept. 2.
If upheld, the appeal would throw out a confession made by Ramos after he was arrested in Stockton on June 29.
“It is our contention that he was not Mirandized properly,” Allan said. “He did not fully understand his rights.”
In her brief filed with the court, Allan says Ramos, 31, speaks only Spanish and that police spent a total of 52 seconds explaining his rights to him.
“He’s only been in this country since April. He did not fully understand what was happening,” Allan said. “Look at it this way, if an American was in Mexico and was arrested and they only gave him 52 seconds to understand and then threw him in jail, I think people would be very upset.”
San Benito County prosecutors said they could not comment on the details of an ongoing case.
If the courts uphold Allan’s appeal, it would be the second time that the court has thrown out a confession in the Santos murder case.
On Sept. 2, Tobias threw out the confession from co-defendant Elicio Rojas, 24, because his rights were not properly explained to him by police.
However Tobias did not throw out the confession by Ramos.
“I understand that Judge Tobias had a difficult decision to make. If he had thrown out the statements for both men, they probably would not have been held to stand trial,” Allan said.
The appeal on the confession ruling will not be heard until after Ramos and Rojas are arraigned for trial on Sept. 24.
Because of the loss of Rojas’ confession, He and Ramos will be tried separately.
Rojas and Ramos, are accused of murdering Santos on June 10 and discarding his body in a 50-acre mustard seed field off of Buena Vista Road, and then stealing his car and some of his personal property.
With the exception of a few words, Rojas and Ramos only speak Spanish.
Salinas defense attorney Bud Landreth and Allan said it appears that when police were reading Rojas and Ramos their rights, they used a translation that did not fully inform them of their right not to answer police questions or to incriminate themselves.
Landreth said he does not believe the police were purposely trying to deny his client of his rights.
“It does not appear that this was anything intentional by the officer, but was merely an oversight,” Landreth said. “I commend the officer for his candor on the witness stand.”
The District Attorney’s office said it will have a solid case with or without the confessions.
